This story was featured in the May 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art May 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
This month’s issue marks our 45th anniversary. In celebration, we took a look back at four and a half decades of covers to trace the evolution of the magazine and the art market it has chronicled.
August 1976
The magazine was founded in 1971 with an initial focus on Texas galleries, but five years later, the content had expanded to include the greater Southwest.
July 1978
By 1978 the western art market was beginning to establish itself, but a wide range of artwork was still featured in the magazine, such as this abstract painting on the cover.
November 1980
Our first annual wildlife art issue featured a cover painting by Gary Swanson along with articles on Bob Kuhn, Ken Carlson, Kent Ullberg, and more.
January 1983
This floral still life is by Texas artist Darryl Trott, who was interviewed by longtime editor Susan Hallsten McGarry.
October 1985
The cover of this 250-page issue, a photograph by Kurt Markus, is one of only a handful of black-and-white covers in the magazine’s history.
May 1986
Our 15th anniversary issue featured a cover painting by renowned artist Richard Schmid and an article about his retrospective exhibition at the Gilcrease Museum.
January 1989
This issue’s cover is by internationally recognized Hopi artist Dan Namingha, who continues to create colorful and meaningful work.
February 1990
This striking cover painting by legendary artist John Nieto accompanied a story on how the coyote has been interpreted in western art.
January 1991
Our first “Art Source” issue was a directory of over 1,000 galleries plus auction houses, print publishers, and more. We published Art Source annually through 1997.
April 1995
A Pueblo Indian boy captured by artist Mike Desatnick. Scenes of Native Americans and cowboys were common cover subjects in this era.
July 1995
This issue commemorates Covering the West, a traveling exhibition featuring 60+ cover artists that the magazine created to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
April 1997
Work by popular sculptor Dave McGary graced this cover. McGary’s death in 2013 at age 55 saddened the western art world.
August 2001
From 2000 through 2002, our August issue was the official magazine of the annual Indian Market in Santa Fe. The 2001 edition set an all-time record at 320 pages.
October 2001
For many years our October Collector’s Issue featured the homes of prominent collectors; this year the homes were in Jackson Hole, Palm Desert, and Hilton Head.
January 2002
As Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, this issue surveyed some of Utah’s top artists, including cover artist Christopher Young.
September 2007
Every September issue since 2000 has included our “21 Under 31” feature on young artists to watch. It’s been one of our most popular features.
March 2011
During our 40th anniversary year, this painting by Nicholas Wilson graced the cover of an issue that focused on wildlife art.
February 2013
Our annual landscape issue stretched the boundaries slightly with this seascape by California artist Debra Huse on the cover.
October 2015
Our cover got a brand-new look last fall, and a painting by rising star Mark Maggiori finds us galloping into the future.
Featured in the May 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art May 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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