Robert Elmer Lougheed was born and raised on a farm in Ontario, Canada. Beginning his art training through correspondence, he went on to study at the Ontario College of Arts and the Ecole de Beaux-Arts in Montreal. In his twenties, he worked as an illustrator for the Toronto Star and went on to have a successful career as a commercial artist in New York City. He is the creator of the well known Flying Horse logo for Mobil Oil. He was commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service to create the six-cent Buffalo Stamp. He split the year between commercial art, painting and travel.
His serendipitous entry into the revival of western art was born out of a commission project in the early 1960s by National Geographic. His assignment was to create a series about thirteen American horse breeds at Bell Ranch in eastern New Mexico. It was through visits to this New Mexican Ranch that became inspired by the seemingly untouched quality of the romantic West. From this point, his relationship with the West and his career focus would bend towards painting these scenes, even as his demand for illustrations on the East Coast remained high.
Lougheed loved painting horses and his talent as an illustrator fed right into creating spectacular paintings that met rising interest in the West in the late 60s and early 70s. In 1965, he illustrated a book about Wild Mustangs and eventually this connection would land him recognition and membership in the Cowboy Artists. He and his longtime friend, artist and illustrator, John Clymer, were well-positioned to be in the limelight of the contemporary art movement of western art. He and his wife, Cordy, eventually relocated to Santa Fe in 1970 as Lougheed focused more on painting the West.
His work is held in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. He was instrumental in opening and teaching at the National Academy of Art at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His studio is preserved by Claggett/Rey Gallery in Vail, CO.
(1901 – 1982)