Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

Sheriff of Pecos

1931–32

maker

Russell Barnett Aitken

(American, 1910–2002)

America, Ohio, Cleveland

Ceramic

Overall: 29 x 15 x 22 cm (11 7/16 x 5 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.)

Gift of Irene Roosevelt Aitken 2013.357

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Caricature, or the exaggeration of prominent features, was a hallmark of Russell Barnett Aitken's style of modeling figures.

Description

Figural studies were emphasized in ceramics classes at the Kunstgewerbeschule, where Clevelanders Viktor Schreckengost and Russell Barnett Aitken studied in 1929–30. Aitken absorbed the Viennese style of exaggeration and caricature as seen in this depiction of a popular folk hero of the Wild West, incorporating such motifs into his work for the rest of his career.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed on the base on the back side "Russell Aitken"

Provenance

Collection of the Artist

Thence by descent to his widow, Irene Roosevelt Aitken, 2002

Citations

Russell Barnett Aitken Entry Card to 1932 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

Aitken, Russell. Russell Barnett Aitken Collection. Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. library.clevelandart.org

Exhibition history

Webb C. Ball Galleries, 1932

The Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs, W. VA.
1934
Ceramics by RBA
Loaned by Mrs. George W. Crawford

1st prize for Ceramic Sculpture, Group of Five, Cleveland Museum of Art, May Show, 1932
1st prize, Texas State Fair

The Cleveland Museum of Art; "The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s." Sept. 30, 2017-Jan. 14, 2018.

The May Show: 14th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-June 5, 1932).