Featured Painting signed "Fighting Bear"

Thoughts on this painting?

I did a tiny bit of research and there is a possible connection with someone named Ray.....
who was an artist who seems to have gone by the name Fighting Bear, but all research turns into a total dead end.

(Leaving Ray's last name out because if I try to sell this on Craiglist, anyone doing research will be brought right to this page.)

Approx, 22x30". Label on the back says $600-- I realize that might be just about anything from wishful thinking, to someone filling an incorrect number. Thought I'd take it home and do some research, but honestly coming up blank.

Sort of an abstract mountain scene. Every time I look at it I think that white image is a polar bear or snow, but not exactly sure. Hoping to get some additional eyes on this. All thoughts appreciated.

 

very nice Lucille! I see a snowy mountain top, but can imagine that is a polar bearIs Ray from the Yukon?

 

I suppose could write the 2nd half of the possible artist's name here: Winters

The only thing I found that this person was connected with that signature was something that was in (some small) museum, that he was the featured artist for something but I'm not even sure it is the same artist. There was one example, but hard to see the photo of it to compare.

It is nicely framed, but I really am coming up with a blank. My thought is that if I could not find anything about it, that I would sell it at my upcoming garage sale.

 

This appears to be the gallery/ shop where it was framed. Why don't you start there?

http://www.framedimage.net

Debora

 

Here you go. The artist's name is Ray Winters.

https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Ray-Winters/536318747

https://www.indiancraftshop.com/ARCHIVES/RayWinters.htm

Debora

 

Kind of looks like an abstract dragons lair...................(with what you're calling a polar bear being the dragons 'wing'), IF I were to be able to imagine what an abstract dragons lair might look like.....

 

Thank you everyone. Much of what I found too--except did not think to contact the framer. A good idea!

The Indian smoking a pipe and looking at the night sky seems so much more detailed... and no signature to compare. Do you think the same person painted both of these?

I saw that Ray Winters was featured at that one store in the link in 2005, but the small photo shown looks like a completely different medium. This is about where I hit a dead end.

I'll try the framer.

 

it doesn't look like the same artist to me - can you find an example of the fighting bear signature?
good idea to try the framer, they might have information on it!

 

This is the information I posted in link. Think it tells you everything you need to know about the artist. If you need to confirm signature, why don't you send your photograph to the curator at the museum below which has his work in its collection?

Debora

Lakota Sioux artist, Ray Winters, to return to Kiva for presentation on July 4 LA JUNTA - Thanks to the generosity of Ron Kibler of Rocky Mountain Frames and Trophies (La Junta and Gunnison), the Koshare Indian Museum will be hosting on Sunday, July 4, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., Ray Winters, a Lakota artist from Fort Yates, ND, as the featured artist in the ninth annual "Kiva Presents..." artist series.Kibler's support will enable Winters to stay for an extended amount of time. Winters, Fighting Bear/Mahto Wicha Kiza, was born at the Standing Rock Reservation, ND.Ray was introduced to oil painting at the age of 12.He attended high school and college programs at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM. Ray's extensive training in advanced oil disciplines includes study at the Medici Institute in Florence, Italy, Rhode Island School of Design, Antioch University and College of Santa Fe.He is a multifaceted artist, as comfortable working with architects to design a cultural center, as he is painting his landscapes, fashioning traditional regalia or working on his parfleche creations. He credits his grandmother for his success as an artist.She encouraged him to draw and create.They were poor, but she would find the money to buy him art supplies.In 1968 when he attended the Institute of American Indian Art, he was overwhelmed with the access to materials.The Institute was a springboard.Not only was he able to continue making traditional outfits, crafts and paint, he took Indian studies and learned to interpret exhibits and work. Ray has exhibited in Colorado, South Dakota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Arkansas, Florida and Oklahoma.He has many works in private collections and commissions pieces.Acclaim in the form of awards and peer recognition continues to flow his way, and his creative approach to art appeals to art connoisseurs from many counties around the world.While being a talented and versatile artist, Ray also lends his expertise in other areas.He has worked as museum technician at the Sioux Indian Museum, Rapid City, SD, has catalogued artifacts at Mesa Verde National Park and Theodore Roosevelt National Park and worked as an art consultant, teacher and judge. Winters is a long-time friend of the museum, having exhibited during the 1980s.Winters, during an earlier visit to the Kiva this year, remembers being impressed with the level of interest in the arts the community of La Junta possessed. "People knew more about art and artists in La Junta than many larger (metropolitan) cities did.It was something I always remember about this area." The museum has a number of Winters' paintings in its collection and received five more pieces of art in May of 2003 from the estate of the late Leonard von Bibra Sutton who was a United States Supreme Court Chief Justice. Winters will be on hand to give a demonstration of his work from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 4.

 

I should add that the "framer" is also an art gallery. Your work was very like purchased there.

Debora

 

Good point, thanks!

 

Here's another work of his (from the museum at Cornell University.) Same style, abstract. Signature the same.

https://emuseum.cornell.edu/view/ob...ate:flow=e1df934c-1724-44d8-85b5-f3c54de72f23

Debora

 

Whoa, nice job researching Debora. Thank you!!!

Starting to feel a little better about this purchase!

 

Kind of odd that there is so much detail in the mountain face but the white area you are talking about is so ambiguous. Having lived in the high country I am reminded of the clouds that sit on and envelope the mountains on occasion, leaving fresh fallen snow in their wake.

 

Ray Winters was a friend of mine. The painting you have is similar to several I have. He was commissioned to paint a large painting for a bank in Anchorage and was inspired by the Chugach Mountains.

 

Thank you, Michele.

I no longer have the painting, but good to get this confirmation. Thank you for posting and welcome!

 

My previous post was from my phone so I can add a little info now that I am on my computer. Debora had a lot of good info about Ray. He was rather nomadic when I knew him - traveling from N Dakota to Denver (where I met him) to NM. He, like many artists, has many styles depending upon recent influences and the stage of their development. The painting in question probably had more than just a polar bear hidden in it. One of his paintings I have has a lot of skulls and a person hidden in the snow on the mountains.
I worked for an architectural firm in Denver that commissioned Ray to paint a large painting for behind a teller line in a bank in Anchorage. We arranged for him to supervise the installation and he was so impressed with the Chugach Mountains that he started painting this style.

 

Thank you for the great info. Ray sounds like an interesting artist.