Robert has traveled extensively throughout his career to visit museums and study the great artists he admires. His travels have included journeys to Russia, Scandinavia, many trips to Europe, and frequent trips to the East Coast and Canada. Robert was elected into the Cowboy Artists of America at 29 years of age and won two silver medals in their annual exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum.
The Cowboy Artists of America is the most respected organization in Western American Art. After five and half years with the Cowboy Artists, Robert decided to resign in order to put less emphasis on western art and devote more time to painting his family, friends and the beautiful countryside of Midway and the Heber Valley, UT.
Duncan has shown his original paintings for over 30 years with Trailside Galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona and Jackson, Wyoming. He has been invited to numerous shows around the country including the Masters of the American West Exhibition at the Autry National Center, The Great American Artists Show in Cincinnati, and numerous others. Robert’s print and posters were carried for many years by New York Graphic Society in New York City.
Wanting more control over his own work Robert created his publishing company Robert Duncan Studios, that now publishes and distributes all of his Limited Edition Prints, Posters, Art Cards, and Calendars. His work is carried in galleries, frame shops and gift stores across the US, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. Robert and his wife Linda have six children. They, along with a lively assortment of animals, live in the small town of Midway in northern Utah.
Robert Duncan was born and raised in Utah, but spent his childhood summers on his grandfather’s ten thousand acre Wyoming cattle ranch surrounded by beautiful open country. An aspiring artist from an early age, it was this idyllic childhood that would deeply instill in him a love of nature and rural life that continues to be the central focus of his life and art today.
Robert began painting at the age of 11. He studied at the University of Utah and worked as a commercial artist before his full-time dedication to fine art. Robert’s art education includes work in Canada with the late CAA artist Robert Lougheed, the study of European artists in France, Sweden, and Spain and the English artist Alfred Munnings.
In 1982 Duncan was the youngest person invited to join the Cowboy Artists of America organization. During his five-year association with the group, Duncan developed a national following for his oil paintings, mainly historical subject matter. Despite his enormous success with the organization, Duncan resigned in 1987 to devote more time to his increasing passion for painting farm life and nostalgic vignettes of rural America.
Robert Duncan, b. 1952, Salt Lake City, Utah, (United States)
Education
• University of Utah
Selected Exhibitions
• Autry National Center, Masters of the American West, Los Angeles, CA
• Great American Artists Exhibition, Cincinnati, OH
• Northwest Rendezvous, Helena, MT
• Cowboy Artists of America, Phoenix, AZ
Selected Publications
• Peggy and Harold Samuels, Contemporary Western Artists
Selected Press
• Western Art Collector, Heroic Figures, November, 2014
• Art of the West, Sharing the Love, November, 2014
• Western Art Collector, February, 2009
• Art of the West, June, 2007
• Art in America, April, 2006
• Art of the West, Timeless Art, Vicki Stavig, November, 2002
• Art of the West, The Studio, Vicki Stavig, December, 2001
• Art Talk, December, 1997
Affiliations
• Cowboy Artists of America, Tucson, AZ, 1982-1987
Selected Collections
• Erivan & Helga Haub
Awards
• Wasatch Plein Air Paradise Competition, Purchase Award, Midway, UT, 2014
• Cowboy Artists of America, Silver Medal, 1985
• Cowboy Artists of America, Silver Medal, 1984
View Robert Duncan Paintings
Today, Duncan sees his work as a return to old values. Often painting outside, direct from life, his canvas speaks of family and neighbors, a simple and honest way of life that is in eminent danger of disappearing from the American landscape. Several trips to Europe have inspired a number of landscapes and pastoral scenes. Duncan says, “I’m interested in the ways we are all alike and feelings that are universal. I also paint out of concern that we are losing sight of things that have a profound impact on our souls and well being. We all need a bit of nature in our lives.” He adds, “With my art, comes the hope that we might all try to save those things that really matter and leave our children a world where they can still enjoy the simple pleasures.”