The Challenge

Additional Information

Although he painted similar subjects to several of his esteemed contemporaries—artists such as Howard Terpning and Ken Riley—Roy Andersen often pushed his work into new territory with his use of color, which he painted with an intensity that would vibrate on the canvas. He was especially adept at warm tones—red, orange, yellow and gold—which he would use to draw attention to the brilliant light and atmosphere of the Great Plains and its original inhabitants. In Dream Spinner: The Art of Roy Andersen, the artist provides a picture of his paint palette, which is covered in colors with fascinating names: cadmium yellow orange, rose crimson, thalo rose, cadmium red deep, terra rosa and others. These are the colors that bring his images of Plains Indians to life. They are also the colors that are seen in The Challenge, a large and magnificent piece that exemplifies Andersen’s skills as a painter and colorist.

“Indians believe life moves in circles. I returned to a love of horses and the Native people who lived their lives on horseback. This is now my main focus, not just because Indians are picturesque, but because they are living symbols that express the thoughts of free men and animals moving through a natural world,” Andersen writes in Dream Spinner. “They are real, spiritual, serious and honest people looking for a connection between God and their own nature and the beautiful landscape around them.”

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Please note that the first unframed photo is most accurate for color. Framed photographs are to show the frame and are not color corrected to the painting.

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