Howard Post: Phoenix Art Museum

Click to view available Howard Post paintings

Published online courtesy of Western Art Collector, May, 2010

Howard Post, San Tan Valley, oil on canvas, 60"x48"

Courtesy of Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tusson, AZ and Santa Fe, NM

On March 19, 2010, the Western Art Associates of the Phoenix Art Museum held an event titled Western Select. For the event, the museum picked five possible paintings they were interested in acquiring and the Associates voted on and chose the painting they liked the best. The winner was Howard Post’s new painting, San Tan Valley.

“Howard is a terrific artist and we are happy to have this painting join the collection,” says Jerry Smith, curator of Western American Art at the Phoenix Art Museum.

 According to Post, he did the painting with the museum in mind and wanted to capture an iconic scene of the San Tan Mountains, an area near his home southeast of Phoenix. It contains all the elements Post is known for – mountains, landscapes, fence posts and animals. Post and his wife were both born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. Post grew up on a 30-acre ranch where his parents sold cows and horses for the rodeo and maintained a hay and feed store that supplied ranchers throughout southern Arizona.

 Post still participates in amateur rodeo and roping competition and competes in regular United States Team Roping Association events. He has several horses on his ranch and ranching has been in his blood from the beginning.

“They wanted a quintessential Howard Post and I was happy to oblige,” says Post.

Editor's Note: In our new monthly section, Recently Acquired, we plan on shoing you new items purchased by Western Museums for their permanent collections.  Museums purchase important pieces of art by both living and deceased artists that rarely show up on the market.