The Most Well-Known, Unknown Western Illustrator

A.R. Mitchell’s paintings are so “moving.”

- JANA BOMMERSBACH

His name won’t trip off the tongue, but everyone knows his images: If the horses aren’t bucking, they’re seriously considering it; if the cowboy is still in the saddle, it’s because the next jolt hasn’t thrown him yet; there’s always, always action.

The paintings of Arthur Roy Mitchell come as close to a “moving picture” as an oil painting can get. That’s what excited pulp magazine readers from the 1920s to the 1940s as he produced 160 covers—True West was happily one of them—and became “King of Pulp.”

Anyone who’s ever read a Western magazine has seen a Mitchell painting, and for many, his authentic portrayal defines Western life.