H.W. Caylor (1867-1932)

Born near Noblesville, Indiana, Harvey Caylor was known as a cowboy artist for his authentic paintings of Texas ranch life including longhorn cattle drives and roundups. He was also a painter of landscapes, portraits, genre and animals; was an illustrator and also a writer of articles for ranching and agricultural publications.

Caylor was raised in a log cabin, the ninth of twelve children, supported by a father who was a shoemaker.  Caylor received drawing lessons as a child.  At 14, he left home to do odd jobs including herding cattle in Kansas.  With money he saved from his earnings, he studied painting in Indianapolis with Jacob Cox (1810-1892), a portrait, landscape and still-life painter. 

Having learned that western artist Frederic Remington recommended that artists should head West to get first hand familiarity with landscape and other painting subjects, Caylor followed that advice and worked through ranches and cities toward the Pacific.  In the early 1880s, he was in Arizona, especially to observe the Indians.

By 1890, he had married and was settled on a ranch near Big Spring, Texas.   On sketching trips throughout West Texas, he travelled with his wife in either a covered wagon or a mule-drawn hack.  He also outfitted his ranch with Texas longhorns, which he used as models in his paintings. In 1894, he was financially successful from ranching and determined to be a serious painter, pursued a career as cowboy artist until his death from nephritis in 1932 in Big Spring.

Sources include:
Peggy and Harold Samuels, The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West
John and Deborah Powers, Texas Painters, Sculptors, & Graphic Artists