Olaf S. Wieghorst was born in Denmark in 1899. His father was an etcher and engraver. When he was a boy his father introduced him both to painting and horses, a combination that laid the foundation for his career as a painter in oil of traditional Western scenes and especially as portraitists, illustrator and sculptor of horses.

In 1940, he obtained an agent to sell his paintings. By 1955, there was a waiting list of buyers for Wieghorst's works.

"Horses have been my life,"Wieghorst says. And the central image of many of his the horse, painted with the authenticity of both anatomy and emotion that could come only from an artist who devoted his life to studying and painting his subjects.

Wieghorst was a master of realism, although his paintings, with their fine flat strokes, have a post-impressionistic quality. Working from sketches made during many travels through the Southwest, Wieghorst insists on authenticity in his work. He has a museum-quality collection of Western artifacts and memorabilia that provide detail for his paintings. After suffering from a severe car accident, Wieghorst died in 1990.

Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton