Fred Darge (Texas, 1900-1978), study of a tree and underbrush, pencil on paper, signed lower right with monogram

sight: 9 x 12 in., frame: 15.5 x 18.5 in.

Provenance: Property from a Kerens, Texas collection 

Friedrich Ernst “Fred” Darge was born in Rendsburg, Germany to Wilhelm and Ana Darge. There are some biographies that claim he joined the German Merchant Marines in 1916, where he developed a keen interest and skilled ability in carving model ships and sail boats. He arrived in Port Arthur, Texas aboard a German merchant ship in 1923. It is probably a safe assumption that Darge had been exposed to the exciting and glorified concept of the cowboy because of the long-held fascination in which Europeans, particularly Germans, placed on all the elements that comprised the mystique and romance of the American West. At some point, likely in mid-1924, Darge arrived in Chicago and settled into residency there. According to documentation in Darge’s handwriting, he was enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) beginning on September 29, 1924 thru March 29, 1930. His study courses included drawing and portrait and figure painting. His later years were spent at his studio adjacent to the Dallas Art Association where he also acted as an instructor. His paintings have been exhibited in Chicago, New York, Miami, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Austin, Taos, and Santa Fe. In his fifty years as an artist, Darge never veered from his initial goal of presenting “the ranchman as he lives today.”