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Internationally known Western artist Donald Putt Putman died Nov. 19, 2007 from complications of pulmonary fibrosis. He was born Nov. 12, 1926. He was 81.
There are people who are cornerstones of a community. Their examples validate our commitments, and exemplify our goals. Donald "Putt" Putman, was one of these people. His life has inspired us to pass on his knowledge and values to others and to excel in our own lives. We are greatly saddened by his loss.
Donald "Putt" Putman was born in Spokane, Washington in 1926. Although born in Washington, he has spent most of his life in California. Putt attended high school in Los Angeles, and then joined the Navy during World War II. After the war he received a scholarship to California State University Fresno. While in college his passion for the arts convinced him to transfer to Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. |
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Putt met his wife Bobbie in Florida while traveling with the circus. While Putt enjoyed circus life, he eventually left the big top to get married, and returned to painting full time. The couple eventually settled in Los Angeles to raise a family.
During the 1960's, Putt returned to Art Center College as a teacher. It was there that he discovered that he truly loved to teach, and found great joy in helping others to shape their artistic skills.
Over the year’s Putt’s passion for portraying the people and the history of the American West earned him a reputation as an accomplished Western Painter. His Western works include Native American portraits and scenes, frontier life, colonial Spanish ladies and Vaqueros, dance halls, saloons, and bordellos. While he is best known as a Westen artist, his works cover a wide range of other subjects including portraiture, dance, circus life, nudes, and landscape.
Paintings of Putt's hang in the Rochester Museum of New York, the Whitney Museum in Wyoming, and in public and private collections world-wide.Many celebrities have purchased an original Putt painting including Charlton Heston, Burt Reynolds, and Clint Eastwood.
http://www.galwest.com/fine_art/putt_putman/index.htm
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Copyright © Stellar Gallery |
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Donald
"Putt" Putman 1926
- 2007
After completing his studies
at Art Center College Putt joined Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey
Circus, working at first as a porter, then the strongman catcher, and then a
comic acrobat. Putt worked during the day, but drew and painted the
show people, animals, and freaks during the evening, His circus paintings
include several portraits of the famous clown Emmett Kelley.
While raising
two boys and two girls, Putt became a scenic artist for MGM. He helped
in the painting of sceneries for such movies as Mutiny on the Bounty, The
Brothers Grimm and The Four Horsemen. 
In
his later years Putt devoted his time fully to his painting, doing
occasional shows and teaching art workshops at his home near Yosemite National Park.
Putt was a member of the 