1993.77, Laura Wilson, Watt Matthews and his sister, Lucille...., 1987, gelatin silver print

The stark landscape and bleak sky of this work by photographer Laura Wilson reinforces the dramatic lifestyle of the working cowboy. Carefully posed in front of a sharp, imposing barn, Watt Matthews, his sister Lucille, the ranch foreman, and several ranch hands pause for a family portrait under the watchful eyes of a longhorn skull directly above Lucille's head. Watkins Raynolds Matthews, described in his New York Times obituary as "a wiry wrangler who spent more than half a century presiding over his family's showcase Texas cattle spread," grew up on the ranch his family had been working since the middle of the last century. With the exception of four years spent at Princeton University, he never felt the need to leave, and he spent his years in the simple room of the bunkhouse furnished with a bed, bureau, bootjack, and chair.

DMA Label copy.

Until 1993: Anonymous collection, Dallas, Texas

From 1993: Dallas Museum of Art, anonymous gift [1]

[1] See confidential section of Collections Records Object File 1993.77

Apply to objects where number equals 1993.77