Throughout his artistic career, George Marks’s work was always guided by the legacy of the West. As a boy, he listened to the stories told to him by his grandfather, who was a rancher. He himself was fascinated by the realistic paintings of Charles Russell. These early influences motivated Marks to study art, to explore museum collections, and to persist in the dream of creating art that realistically portrayed contemporary Western ranch life.
Marks was born in Iowa in 1923. He earned his fine arts degree from the University of Iowa and then worked as a commercial illustrator for fourteen years. Before seriously beginning to sculpt in 1970, Marks worked primarily in oils. Bill Moyers, a fellow member of the Cowboy Artists of America, ass...