OLAF WIEGHORST (1899-1988)

Olaf Wieghorst was an American-Danish painter best known for his landscapes and equestrian paintings of the American West. Celebrating nostalgia for an American West that was rapidly vanishing to history, Wieghorst catered to an audience enamored with fictional characters like John Wayne. Born on April 30, 1899 in Viborg, Denmark, Wieghorst left his native country at the age of 19 to emigrate to the United States, where he secured a position as a mounted patrolman in the U.S. Cavalry. He began sketching and painting the local milieu, garnering an interest for cowboy culture. The artist died on April 28, 1988 in La Mesa, CA.