Home on the Range 20" x 24" Oil on Board Signed lower right Lon Megargee Verso: Title Home on the Range painted by Lon Megargee PO Box 645 Phoenix, Ariz PROVENANCE: By decent through the family of Howard Hawks. Hung over fireplace in the home of the legendary Oscar winning Hollywood director. Hawks directed John Wayne in Rio Bravo, Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep, Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. Lon Megargee (1883-1960) As Arizona's first cowboy artist, Lon Megargee lived all the great western myths, cowboy, rancher, enterpreneur, artist and friend of politicians and celebrities. He was a ranch owner who painted oil canvases of the places he loved and the cowboy life he admired. Megargee's work links the history and art of the state with which he wanted most to be identified. Betsy Fahlman, author of The Cowboy's Dream: The Mythic Life and Art of Lon Megargee talked about this famous image. Home on the Range, which probably dates from the forties, is by ..... Arizona's original cowboy artist. Born in Philadelphia, he moved to the southwest in 1896, where he remained until his death. His first works date from 1910, and between 1911 and 1927, the Santa Fe Railroad purchased nearly two dozen of his paintings for their corporate collection. In them the artist portrayed his favorite themes of landscape, Native Americans, and cowboys. Home on the Range is the title of several similar works (the artist often did related versions of his paintings, some chronologically widely spaced). Variant titles include Cowboy's Saturday Night and Home on the Ranch, and they all feature a cowboy cleaning himself up. His clothing and gun are hung on a chair, his boots to one side, though he keeps his hat on, smoking as he scrubs off a week's worth of ranch grime. His horse sticks his head through the bathroom window, and is surprised at the sight of a thirsty cat drinking from the toilet at the left. ... All are typical of Megargee's broad sense of humor and engagement of western stereotypes.