Olaf Carl Wieghorst (Danish/American 1899-1988)
Olaf Wieghorst was born in Viborg, Denmark and made his way to New York around 1917. Fascinated with the Wild West, Wieghorst enlisted in the U.S. Calvary in Mexico. He later worked with the Mounted Police Division in New York City and eventually settled in California. Horses were Wieghorst’s great love: “I try to paint the little natural things, the way a horse turns his tail to the wind on cold nights, the way he flattens his ears in the rain, seasonal changes in the coat of a horse, and the psychology of his behavior. Horses have been my life.” (Reed, William. Olaf Wieghorst. Flagstaff: Nothland Press, 1976.)
Information courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions, March 2007