Joe Beeler grew up on the Oklahoma border, studied in Kansas and Los Angeles and made his living in commercial art before breaking through in 1960 with a one-man exhibition at the Gilcrease. Five years later, Beeler became one of the founding members of the Cowboy Artists of America. Beeler believed that “a really fine or great piece of Western art will not only show care in the documentary aspects of the work, but it will also be a fine piece judged primarily on its merits alone.”
