James Bama “the Drift on Skull Creek Pass”, Limited Edition Numbered Lithograph

James Bama was an New York born American artist known for his realistic paintings and etchings of Western subjects. Beginning in 1951, he was an illustrator at New York’s Charles E. Cooper Studios for 15 years. His first paperback cover was Nelson Nye’s A Bullet for Billy the Kid (1950). Bama had a 22-year career as a successful commercial artist, producing paperback book covers, movie posters and illustrations for such publications as Argosy, The Saturday Evening Post and Reader’s Digest, and his numerous clients included the New York Giants football team, the Baseball and Football Halls of Fame and the U.S. Air Force.

Beginning with The Man of Bronze (1964), he did a powerful set of 62 covers for the Doc Savage Bantam Books paperbacks, often using as a model actor Steve Holland, star of TV’s Flash Gordon (1954–55). He also painted the box cover art for Aurora’s monster model kits, including King Kong, Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy.

Married in 1964 he and his wife headed west as guests of artist Bob Meyers at his Circle M ranch near Cody, Wyoming. Meyers had walked out on his career as a successful Manhattan illustrator with such magazines as True and The Saturday Evening Post to run his ranch and paint. After return visits in 1967, the Bamas left New York and moved, in September 1968, into a cabin on Meyers’ ranch. Bama began to paint contemporary Western subjects during the daytime while doing his freelance illustrations in the evenings. Life in Wyoming led to his comment, “Here an artist can trace the beginnings of Western history, see the first buildings, the oldest wagons, saddles and guns, and be up close to the remnants of Indian culture … And you can stand surrounded by nature’s wonders.”

Dimensions:
15.5″h x 20.75″w (sight)
25.25″h x 30.5″w (frame)

Condition:
Good, no issues observed, not examined out of frame.