Duane Bryers

Duane Bryers


Duane Bryers is one of America's most gifted artists and has been for the better part of his ninety-four years on this planet. He earned a living as a commercial illustrator until his early fifties and gradually found himself garnering a nice amount of attention as a fine artists who specialized in western theme paintings.

At the beginning of our official interview (I had chatted over the phone with Duane on numerous occasions over the course of three years) Duane tells me he was born in the upper peninsula of Michigan in 1911 on a farm with his three brothers and two sisters. At the age of twelve his family moved to a village in Northern Minnesota called Virginia (five miles north of Duluc according to Duane) where he lived until he left in 1939.

Because the funny papers were the only source of pop entertainment an infant could find on a farm, Duane began drawing his own comic strip at the age of five. He was greatly inspired by the artists that became superstars of their time from the work all of America clamored to see in the newspapers. From the age of fifteen on, Duane was never without a sketchbook and a pencil ("I drew and I drew and I drew..."). In 1936 he had a scheme to overwhelm the world with a mural he would paint for the Minnesota school board which he was confident would help him finance an art career in the big city where he knew fame and fortune would surely embrace him. They gave him permission to do the mural which was one-hundred and three feet long and ten feet high. The massive mural went on to become a historical treasure in Minnesota.

As expected, the mural paid for his move and living expenses in New York City where he studied at the Art Students League. While in the Air Force from 1943-1946 he fullfilled a childhood dream and created a nationally syndicated comic strip of his own called "Corky".. From there he earned his living as a respected and well-employed commerfcial artist.

Duane has exhibited his western theme art at major invitations shows since 1978, including a solo exhibition at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1980. He has been written up in endless art journals and is also responsible for "The Bunkhouse Boys of The Lazy Daisy Ranch", a book he profusely illustrated in 1974 with hilarious text provided by his then-wife Dee. I've included two scans from the book as seen below.

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Duane Bryers