Putting on a Good Show

German-born artist W. H. D. Koerner grew up in Clinton, Iowa, working his way up as a newspaper illustrator and art editor. He eventually sought formal training at the Art Students League in New York. Later he became a student of Howard Pyle in Wilmington, where he was a classmate of Harvey Dunn, Frank Schoonover, and N. C. Wyeth. Koerner earned a reputation as an illustrator of Western scenes, such as Putting on a Good Show, which was a commission from the Saturday Evening Post. The image set the scene for the first installment of Mary Roberts Reinhart’s novel Lost Ecstasy. The budding romance of a New York socialite and a Wyoming ranch hand is alluded to in the painting. The novel later was transformed into the 1931 film I Take This Woman, starring Carole Lombard and Gary Cooper.