Desert Book - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

that once was theirs and preserve it
on canvas."
Bobbs will spend hours of research
to get a turkey plume in just the right
place on a Comanche prayer-wand, or
picture the proper kind of skin on a
Blackfoot's leggings. As a result, paintings
such as his "Apache Scouts" and
"Navajos in Canyon de Chelly" have
won the acclaim of leading ethnologists
for their feeling and accuracy.
Indian Models
With his Indian portraits it's a little
different. For these he uses models,
chiefly to be correct about the features
he portrays; but he weaves historical
symbolism into many of these paintings,
too.
"It depends a good deal upon the
tribe," Bobbs explains. "If I'm working
on a Taos subject, my model will
come to the studio in blanket and
braids, since they haven't changed the
manner of dress in that pueblo for
centuries. But if I use a Plains Indian
for a model, he's likely to come in
blue jeans and a bola tie. I can only
paint his features, and then work
feathers, headdress, and other trappings
in from old photographs."
His "Taos Drummer" and "Cheyenne
Warrior" are good examples.
The drummer stands in front of his
1000-year-old pueblo, dressed as his
ancestors dressed—and just as Bobbs
saw him the day he modeled. The
shielded warrior, with feathered spear
and headdress of bull's horns, is largely
a product of Bobbs' history reading
and research.
Bobbs did much of his research on
American Indians in England—while
competing in archery with British toxophilists.
"I was browsing through
British Museum catalogs one day and
was surprised to find so many good
books on Indians," he says. "Many
of them were written by Britishers
traveling in America in pioneer days.
They were impressed by the various
tribes they saw and gave detailed accounts
of prevailing customs and clothing."
Visited Tribesmen
Bobbs has traveled widely in the
Indian country. While still in his
twenties, he was a frequent visitor
among Plains tribes —- especially the
Dakotas, Kickapoos and Cheyennes.
He settled in Santa Fe and there got
to know the Pueblo peoples and their
patterns of culture. He visited Navajos
and Apaches, and later took a job
painting dioramas for Indian exhibits
at the Museum of New Mexico.
"Then came the war," he says reminiscently.
"There no longer was
money for creative effort — all was
geared to destruction. I got a few portrait
commissions here and there and
survived."
MARCH, 1959
"Taos Head"
Today, Bobbs is recognized as one
of the best painters of portraits in the
Southwest. Portraits are, even in prosperous
times, a luxury item-—so Bobbs'
clientele is necessarily well-to-do. He
gets commissions from successful fruit
growers, oil well operators and other
businessmen—principally from California,
Texas, and Oklahoma; these oils
are used in private homes or to decorate
corporation board rooms. Often
an organization, wishing to honor
: • " • . : • • " • • • ' .
someone living or dead, will have
Bobbs do a "special occasion" portrait.
In New York a short while ago
an Irish-American group commissioned
a portrait of Francis Cardinal Spellman.
While in England engaging in
archery he did a portrait of Queen
Elizabeth II, commissioned by the
Royal Toxophilist Society.
Bobbs' Santa Fe studio is in his
home, an old adobe dwelling renovated
for modern living; it's in the "dirt road
"Apache Scouts"
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