Dan Muller
Encyclopedia
Dan Muller aka Daniel Cody Muller (1889–1976), artist, illustrator and writer of the American West
; Muller was born in Choteau, Montana
, October 11, 1889 to Carl and Augusta Muller.
Muller's early years are known only from the artist's own recollections of them. In one of his five published books, "My Life with Buffalo Bill" the artist alleges that his father, who was allegedly one quarter Piegan Blackfoot, was killed by a horse when Muller was nine years old, and he (the artist) was adopted by Buffalo Bill Cody. Muller then reportedly was raised and spent 18 years working with Cody in his Wild West Shows
and on Cody's ranches. (see Footnote 1 below)
Muller wrote that he met C.M. Russell about 1900 in Choteau MT (about 50 miles from Russell's home town of Great Falls
) and was influenced in his art by Russell. In a 1964 Milwaukee newspaper article Muller was described by a Taos NM
art gallery owner as "...the Russell or Remington of our day".
Muller wrote that he sold his early paintings to tourists in Yellowstone Park; he spent the years of World War I
breaking horses for the army, sold his first painting professionally in New York City in January 1917 and subsequently worked as a ranch hand while traveling by horseback from Mexico to Canada and back to the American West. He was in New York City again around 1929, then worked in Chicago from 1930 until about 1933.
In 1933 Muller painted three 100 foot murals for the Travel and Transport exhibit of the Century of Progress
Chicago World's Fair. That same year he wrote and illustrated an original short story titled "Break 'Em Gentle" for the premier October 1933 issue of Esquire
Magazine- an issue which also featured works by Ernest Hemingway
, Dashiell Hammett
, Ring Lardner
, John Dos Passos
and others.
He settled for a while in Elko, Nevada
in the mid 1930's where he painted murals and signs as well as original artwork. He painted murals for the famous Town House restaurant/casino in Reno NV.
In 1936 the artist had a painting chosen to represent the state of NV in the First National Exhibition of American Art at Rockefeller Center
in New York City (an oil titled "Tangle Foot"; City of NY Municipal Art Committee booklet, 1936, pg28).
In the late 1930s Muller continued to paint and do illustrations- he drew two (July 1937 and December 1940) cover pieces for the rodeo
magazine Hoofs and Horns, an honor he shared with at least one other well known cowboy artist, Olaf Wieghorst
.
In 1936 Muller's first book "Horses" was published. This book consisted of varied illustrations of horses, a major theme of Muller's work. The book was published with an initial run of 150 leather bound, signed editions. An article in the Nevada State Journal of May 3, 1939 stated of this work: "Dan Muller, the artist, is unique. These are not merely accurate drawings of horses- from the cow pony to the hunter, the Percheron and the race- but character studies... There is real art in his appreciation of horse expression as revealed by toss of head, look of eyes, and tenseness or ease of muscles..."The book is also full of good horse humor..." "The Eugene Field
Society conferred an honorary membership on Muller for 'outstanding contribution to contemporary literature...".
Muller had a second book published in 1938, "Chico of the +Up Ranch". Although fictional, the "+Up Ranch" is where Muller states he was born, and the +Up logo appears in a number of Muller's artworks.
About 1942 Muller relocated to Port Washington, Wisconsin
. During the 1940s and into the 1950s Muller did dozens of cover paintings and illustrated stories for Zane Grey
's Western Magazine, again sharing the honor with other western art notables such as Nicholas Firfires, Leonard Reedy and the aforementioned Wieghorst.
Muller illustrated a 1945 edition of Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell. He also illustrated the book "Gene Autry
and the Thief River Outlaws" in 1944.
In 1948 the third of Muller's books, "My Life with Buffalo Bill" was published. The book was autobiographical in nature, but likely would fall into the category of "tall tale
". In a review the Chicago Tribune described the book as a "fascinating volume...superbly illustrated by the author" and Muller as "one of the world's great artists of western ranch life."
Muller reportedly had his painting 'The Last Roundup' purchased by Nevada Senator George Malone
; ("Trailings of Yesteryear" & Nevada State Journal, March 25, 1951).
During the late 1940s and into the 1950s Muller teamed with Eugene Freedman
(who later went on to found the Enesco
Corporation, distributor of Precious Moments figurines) to produce a series of western themed chalkware plaques and small statues modeled on Muller's paintings and sold under the label of Dan Muller Creations.
He also had artwork used on covers of other western magazines such as True West
, Old West and Frontier Times.
Muller did several paintings of Native Americans
that were made a permanent part of the collection of the Koshare Indian Museum
. "Muller and Koshare museum founder Buck Burshears
met on a train from Chicago to La Junta, Colorado
in May 1963. Muller wrote of the experience: 'I found Mr. Burshears the sort of man that is a privilege to meet and I’m heaps better off for the meeting.'Included in the exhibit are personal correspondence between Muller and Burshears, and photographs and paintings." (Pueblo Chieftain, March 12, 2004).
Muller continued to paint and draw in WI until his death on December 4, 1976. He had two additional books published: "Ride 'Em and Rope 'Em with a Pencil", a how to sketch book, and "Trailings of Yesteryear" which was published posthumously.
Muller was a major influence on artist Ross Stefan, as noted in "Ross Stefan: An Impressionistic Painter of the Contemporary Southwest" by John K Goodman (pg 8). Ross Stefan met Muller in WI in the 1940s.
"Many of Muller's firsthand experiences in the Old West are depicted in his oils,
watercolors and pastels. His work is done in a documentary style, which is
punctuated with great authenticity. He was careful to portray exact detail in the
clothing and gear of his subjects, as well as in the background scenes. He also
had a keen knowledge of horseflesh... His paintings are owned by museums and
private collectors throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and South
America." Dorothy Harmsen, 1977, "American Western Art". (Mrs. Harmsen and her husband Bill Harmsen were involved in collecting Western Art. Some of the works included
were by artists such as Frederic Remington
, George Catlin
, and Muller. In 2001 the couple donated close to 5,000 pieces of art and American West memorabilia to the Denver Art Museum).(The Harmsen Collection Denver Art Museum
contains works by artists and photographers who charted the colonization of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Frederic Remington, Charles M Russell, Frank E. Schoonover, and Frank Tenney Johnson as well as more modern interpreters of American & Western art, such as Gerald Curtis Delano, Harvey Dunn, Dan Muller and Raymond Jonson.)
Jim Binson, of Binson's Home Health Care Centers
, has amassed one of the largest
Western Art Collections in the United States, including several Muller paintings (the Binson Collection has now been donated to the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum in Cheyenne Wyoming; from CFD Old West Museum: "The collection includes works from some of America's greatest western artists such as Frederic Remington, Dan Muller...".) Works of Muller's are also in museums such as the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at Denver Art Museum
, and Cushing Library at Texas A&M University
.
Muller's work can be dated approximately by the appearance of his signature. Works dating up to the early 1930s are signed "D C Muller" and utilize a swastika
symbol, possibly due to his father's Native American heritage, the symbol being in common usage in many cultures worldwide including Native American. In works dating from the later 1930s on Muller signed simply "Dan Muller" with a slash line above and below his name, having abandoned the swastika around the time of its appropriation by Nazi Germany
. (Note: One of Dan Muller's earliest known paintings is from the Harmsen collection, an oil titled "Town", dated 1910; that painting is signed "Dan Muller" lower left within a line drawing of a buffalo).
Stylistically Muller's early works follow the Impressionism
of C M Russell. Later works tended more toward Realism
and a documentarian style.
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
; Muller was born in Choteau, Montana
Choteau, Montana
Choteau is a city in and the county seat of Teton County, Montana, United States. It lies along U.S. Routes 89 and 287 about east of the Rocky Mountains, near Flathead National Forest, the Rocky Mountain Division of Lewis and Clark National Forest, and Glacier National Park. The population was...
, October 11, 1889 to Carl and Augusta Muller.
Muller's early years are known only from the artist's own recollections of them. In one of his five published books, "My Life with Buffalo Bill" the artist alleges that his father, who was allegedly one quarter Piegan Blackfoot, was killed by a horse when Muller was nine years old, and he (the artist) was adopted by Buffalo Bill Cody. Muller then reportedly was raised and spent 18 years working with Cody in his Wild West Shows
Wild West Shows
Wild West Shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe. The first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bill's, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913...
and on Cody's ranches. (see Footnote 1 below)
Muller wrote that he met C.M. Russell about 1900 in Choteau MT (about 50 miles from Russell's home town of Great Falls
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County...
) and was influenced in his art by Russell. In a 1964 Milwaukee newspaper article Muller was described by a Taos NM
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
art gallery owner as "...the Russell or Remington of our day".
Muller wrote that he sold his early paintings to tourists in Yellowstone Park; he spent the years of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
breaking horses for the army, sold his first painting professionally in New York City in January 1917 and subsequently worked as a ranch hand while traveling by horseback from Mexico to Canada and back to the American West. He was in New York City again around 1929, then worked in Chicago from 1930 until about 1933.
In 1933 Muller painted three 100 foot murals for the Travel and Transport exhibit of the Century of Progress
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
Chicago World's Fair. That same year he wrote and illustrated an original short story titled "Break 'Em Gentle" for the premier October 1933 issue of Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
Magazine- an issue which also featured works by Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
, Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
, Ring Lardner
Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
, John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
and others.
He settled for a while in Elko, Nevada
Elko, Nevada
Elko is a city in Elko County, Nevada, United States. The population was 18,297 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Elko County. The city straddles the Humboldt River....
in the mid 1930's where he painted murals and signs as well as original artwork. He painted murals for the famous Town House restaurant/casino in Reno NV.
In 1936 the artist had a painting chosen to represent the state of NV in the First National Exhibition of American Art at Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
in New York City (an oil titled "Tangle Foot"; City of NY Municipal Art Committee booklet, 1936, pg28).
In the late 1930s Muller continued to paint and do illustrations- he drew two (July 1937 and December 1940) cover pieces for the rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
magazine Hoofs and Horns, an honor he shared with at least one other well known cowboy artist, Olaf Wieghorst
Olaf Wieghorst
Olaf Wieghorst was a painter of the American West in the vein of Frederic Remington and Charles Russell....
.
In 1936 Muller's first book "Horses" was published. This book consisted of varied illustrations of horses, a major theme of Muller's work. The book was published with an initial run of 150 leather bound, signed editions. An article in the Nevada State Journal of May 3, 1939 stated of this work: "Dan Muller, the artist, is unique. These are not merely accurate drawings of horses- from the cow pony to the hunter, the Percheron and the race- but character studies... There is real art in his appreciation of horse expression as revealed by toss of head, look of eyes, and tenseness or ease of muscles..."The book is also full of good horse humor..." "The Eugene Field
Eugene Field
Eugene Field, Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays.-Biography:...
Society conferred an honorary membership on Muller for 'outstanding contribution to contemporary literature...".
Muller had a second book published in 1938, "Chico of the +Up Ranch". Although fictional, the "+Up Ranch" is where Muller states he was born, and the +Up logo appears in a number of Muller's artworks.
About 1942 Muller relocated to Port Washington, Wisconsin
Port Washington, Wisconsin
Port Washington is the county seat of Ozaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The city is about 25 miles north of Milwaukee and 110 miles north of Chicago. In the 2000 census Port Washington had a population of 10,467...
. During the 1940s and into the 1950s Muller did dozens of cover paintings and illustrated stories for Zane Grey
Zane Grey
Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the Old West. Riders of the Purple Sage was his bestselling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence...
's Western Magazine, again sharing the honor with other western art notables such as Nicholas Firfires, Leonard Reedy and the aforementioned Wieghorst.
Muller illustrated a 1945 edition of Black Beauty
Black Beauty
Black Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate bestseller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, long enough to see her first and only...
by Anna Sewell. He also illustrated the book "Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
and the Thief River Outlaws" in 1944.
In 1948 the third of Muller's books, "My Life with Buffalo Bill" was published. The book was autobiographical in nature, but likely would fall into the category of "tall tale
Tall tale
A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories such as, "that fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!" Other tall tales are completely...
". In a review the Chicago Tribune described the book as a "fascinating volume...superbly illustrated by the author" and Muller as "one of the world's great artists of western ranch life."
Muller reportedly had his painting 'The Last Roundup' purchased by Nevada Senator George Malone
George W. Malone
George Wilson Malone was an American civil engineer and Republican politician.-Biography:Malone was born in Fredonia, Kansas...
; ("Trailings of Yesteryear" & Nevada State Journal, March 25, 1951).
During the late 1940s and into the 1950s Muller teamed with Eugene Freedman
Eugene Freedman
Eugene Freedman was an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is widely known as the founder of the Enesco Corporation, the worldwide distributor for Precious Moments porcelain figurines between 1997 and 2005.-Early life and education:Born in Philadelphia, Freedman grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
(who later went on to found the Enesco
Enesco
Enesco is an American company specializing in the sales and distribution of giftware. The company was known as an industry leader during the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, as it carried the Precious Moments porcelain figurine line of products.-History:...
Corporation, distributor of Precious Moments figurines) to produce a series of western themed chalkware plaques and small statues modeled on Muller's paintings and sold under the label of Dan Muller Creations.
He also had artwork used on covers of other western magazines such as True West
True West Magazine
True West Magazine is an American magazine that contains glossy articles and covers; reporting about events that happened in the "Old West" era.-History:True West began publication in 1953...
, Old West and Frontier Times.
Muller did several paintings of Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
that were made a permanent part of the collection of the Koshare Indian Museum
Koshare Indian Museum
The Koshare Indian Museum is a registered site of the Colorado Historical Society in La Junta, Colorado. The building, located on the Otero Junior College campus, is a tri-level museum with an attached kiva that is built with the largest self-supporting log roof in the world...
. "Muller and Koshare museum founder Buck Burshears
J. F. Burshears
James Francis "Buck" Burshears was the founder of the Koshare Indian Dancers and the troop's Scoutmaster for over half a century. His poem "The Scoutmaster's Prayer" has been an inspiration to thousands of Scouters throughout the world.The Koshare Indians were formed as a senior project while...
met on a train from Chicago to La Junta, Colorado
La Junta, Colorado
The City of La Junta is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,568 at the U.S. Census 2000. La Junta is located on the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado east of Pueblo.-History:During...
in May 1963. Muller wrote of the experience: 'I found Mr. Burshears the sort of man that is a privilege to meet and I’m heaps better off for the meeting.'Included in the exhibit are personal correspondence between Muller and Burshears, and photographs and paintings." (Pueblo Chieftain, March 12, 2004).
Muller continued to paint and draw in WI until his death on December 4, 1976. He had two additional books published: "Ride 'Em and Rope 'Em with a Pencil", a how to sketch book, and "Trailings of Yesteryear" which was published posthumously.
Muller was a major influence on artist Ross Stefan, as noted in "Ross Stefan: An Impressionistic Painter of the Contemporary Southwest" by John K Goodman (pg 8). Ross Stefan met Muller in WI in the 1940s.
"Many of Muller's firsthand experiences in the Old West are depicted in his oils,
watercolors and pastels. His work is done in a documentary style, which is
punctuated with great authenticity. He was careful to portray exact detail in the
clothing and gear of his subjects, as well as in the background scenes. He also
had a keen knowledge of horseflesh... His paintings are owned by museums and
private collectors throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and South
America." Dorothy Harmsen, 1977, "American Western Art". (Mrs. Harmsen and her husband Bill Harmsen were involved in collecting Western Art. Some of the works included
were by artists such as Frederic Remington
Frederic Remington
Frederic Sackrider Remington was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the Old American West, specifically concentrating on the last quarter of the 19th century American West and images of cowboys, American Indians, and the U. S...
, George Catlin
George Catlin
George Catlin was an American painter, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West.-Early years:...
, and Muller. In 2001 the couple donated close to 5,000 pieces of art and American West memorabilia to the Denver Art Museum).(The Harmsen Collection Denver Art Museum
Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum is an art museum in Denver, Colorado located in Denver's Civic Center.It is known for its collection of American Indian art,and has a comprehensive collection numbering more than 68,000 works from across the world....
contains works by artists and photographers who charted the colonization of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Frederic Remington, Charles M Russell, Frank E. Schoonover, and Frank Tenney Johnson as well as more modern interpreters of American & Western art, such as Gerald Curtis Delano, Harvey Dunn, Dan Muller and Raymond Jonson.)
Jim Binson, of Binson's Home Health Care Centers
Binson's Home Health Care Centers
Binson's Home Health Care Centers is an American home medical supply and home health care product retailer headquartered in Michigan..BHCC was founded by S. George Binson in 1953. The company became one of the first in the United States to provide home intravenous therapy and home ventilator...
, has amassed one of the largest
Western Art Collections in the United States, including several Muller paintings (the Binson Collection has now been donated to the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum in Cheyenne Wyoming; from CFD Old West Museum: "The collection includes works from some of America's greatest western artists such as Frederic Remington, Dan Muller...".) Works of Muller's are also in museums such as the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at Denver Art Museum
Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum is an art museum in Denver, Colorado located in Denver's Civic Center.It is known for its collection of American Indian art,and has a comprehensive collection numbering more than 68,000 works from across the world....
, and Cushing Library at Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University Libraries
The Texas A&M University Libraries support the teaching, research, and outreach missions of Texas A&M University through leadership in acquiring, managing, and delivering information in an environment that fosters learning and inquiry...
.
Muller's work can be dated approximately by the appearance of his signature. Works dating up to the early 1930s are signed "D C Muller" and utilize a swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
symbol, possibly due to his father's Native American heritage, the symbol being in common usage in many cultures worldwide including Native American. In works dating from the later 1930s on Muller signed simply "Dan Muller" with a slash line above and below his name, having abandoned the swastika around the time of its appropriation by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. (Note: One of Dan Muller's earliest known paintings is from the Harmsen collection, an oil titled "Town", dated 1910; that painting is signed "Dan Muller" lower left within a line drawing of a buffalo).
Stylistically Muller's early works follow the Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
of C M Russell. Later works tended more toward Realism
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
and a documentarian style.