Seller Story: Sid Burns, Dallas, TX
“The roots of the Western collection come from my grandfather: he grew up on ranches in Oklahoma and Texas. Then he moved out to southern California when he was 19 or 20 years old and lived on a ranch there as well. He was also a fourth or fifth generation cobbler and leatherworker, so he opened up a shoe shop in Laguna Beach where he was creating custom men’s and women’s boots. He also did custom saddles, gun holsters, all kinds of things. There are a lot of items in the auction that he tooled.
Some time in his late 40’s he was visiting relatives in Oklahoma and went to the Gilcrease Museum and saw a sculpture there by Remington, and he turned around to my father and said, you know, I think I can do this. So he had no background, very little education generally, and certainly no art education: he was a completely self-taught sculptor. He started sculpting when he was in his late 40’s and he cast his first two pieces when he was 50. When he put them in his shop, just to show them off, people came in wanting to buy them. Within a week he’d sold his first two pieces, and decided to cast more. And in two years he sold the shop and was a self-supporting artist.
From an engineering point of view, his pieces are right on the edge of impossible. The Spooked piece was so close to impossible, actually, that he really had to work with the foundry on how to balance it. The version of that piece that’s in the auction is one that my father bought: it actually has my great-grandfather’s face on the cowboy.
I think the piece with the chief riding his calm horse while he’s guiding his war pony is another great piece that really shows the contradictions of his art. He was able to get so much energy and dynamic tension out of bronze, which is cold, hard and heavy." — Shelby Burns, granddaughter
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Mid-Century Modern Upholstered Armchair
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Tiffany & Co. "Man in the Moon" Sterling Silver Baby Rattle, 2008-2023
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Mesh Bib Necklace
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
14K 1.00 CTW Diamond Band
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Still Life Oil Painting of Iced Tea in Mason Jar With Lemon Slice
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Mid Century Modern Style Walnut Sculpted Front Nightstand Commode
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Garncarek Aleksander Pond Landscape Oil Painting "Staw," 2024
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Hudson River School Oil Painting of a Hunter on a Lake, Late 19th Century
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Rookwood Pottery Floral Basket Art Tile, Early to Mid 20th Century
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Rejina Pyo x Projekt Produkt RP-11 C03 Sunglasses
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Wooded Landscape Oil Painting of Pond
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
English Georgian Style Pine Two-Drawer Table with Carved Skirt, 19th Century
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Eastlake Style Birdseye Maple and Single Drawer Desk, Late 19th Century
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Alfio Grasso Oil Painting of Seated Nude "Sunset," 1970
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Ballard Designs "Garden District" Mirrors in Weathered Finish
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Halftone Print After Tadashi Asoma's "Lily Pond in Summer"
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
18K Cyma Quartz Wristwatch
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
José M. Lima Floral Still Life Oil Painting, 2023
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Oster Bread Maker and The Juiceman Kitchen Appliances
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Victorian Walnut and Poplar Bed Frame, Late 19th Century
What was your grandfather’s process like?
As he worked on these over months and months and months, in his head he had whole stories about who these cowboys were and what they were doing. The 8 + 2, for instance, is a scene from a rodeo: the event where you ride a wild bronco for 8 seconds and if you can stay on, you win. So in this piece, the cowboy has made it the 8 seconds, but he can’t get off the horse. The other rider comes up to pull him off, and the saddle breaks. That’s what the extra 2 seconds is.
Your grandfather had a short career, but it seems like he got a lot done during that time!
He only produced work for 13 years before he died. I think it was 24 pieces in those 13 years. Most of them had editions of either 12 or 24, so there really are not a lot of his pieces out there. But collectors and gallerists, other artists, they loved him. At the Death Valley 49’s show, the artists who participate all vote on their favorite peer, and when my grandfather was producing work he won that award 7 years in a row. It’s still called the Sid Burns award.
There’s some amazing jewelry in the auction, also.
His wife Frances totally supported his work; the two of them together were this dynamo couple in the American western art scene. The jewelry was both of theirs, and we have pictures of them wearing most of the pieces. They were part of the whole lifestyle: cowboy hats, cowboy boots, bolos, squash blossoms, belt buckles. They collected lots of pieces, Indian jewelry in particular.