The Shoot Out

Although he moved far from the South Dakota prairie where he was born, the romance of pioneer life is at the heart of much of Harvey Dunn’s work. Training first at the Art Institute of Chicago and then with Howard Pyle in Wilmington, Dunn was a sought-after illustrator for major magazines and books. The Shoot Out was likely made to accompany one of the numerous adventure stories Dunn illustrated. Within a few years of painting this work, Dunn joined the army’s art program, becoming a captain in the American Expeditionary Forces and one of eight American combat artists abroad. During his time in France he traded the imagined shootouts of the old West for the realities of trench warfare in World War I.