Theodore Waddell

“I feel as if I live in the midst of a large painting and choose parts of it to examine. There is a stability to the landscape and people here, allowing me to examine the same situation over a long period of time, even though the seasons change and people change…This stability slows me to study a place at length and appreciate it very much.”

-Theodore Waddell from Into the Horizon: Paintings and Sculpture, 1960-2000

Coming from three generations of Montana ranchers, Waddell translates his passion for the Western landscape and the herds that inhabit it to canvas through his expressive and impressionistic use of materials. Oil paint, encaustic and charcoal capture the essence of his forms and the atmosphere of his landscapes. He know his subjects so well that he has the ability to go beyond what we see in front of us to portray a form that is both individual and universal. Waddell’s work is widely acclaimed and collected throughout the U.S. His work appeals to collectors of abstract art as well as those for whom the romance of the West is irresistible.

Theodore Waddell, born in 1941, attended Brooklyn Museum of Art, earned his MFA at Wayne State in Detroit, and taught at the University of Montana. His work first attained national recognition in “The 36th Corcoran Biennial Exhibition of American Painting and Second Western States Exhibition” in 1983. In 2000, the Yellowstone Art Museum curated a forty-year retrospective of Waddell’s work, “Into the Horizon”. His work has been shown in Asia, South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Yugoslavia.

Waddell’s art is featured in many private and public collections, including the Denver Art Museum, Microsoft, Bank of America, Dallas Museum, Boise Museum of Art, LA County Museum, Yellowstone Art Museum, Buffalo Bill Museum, and Frederick Weisman Collection. His work has also been shown in exhibitions at these galleries and institutions: Museum of the Southwest, Holter Museum of Art, Museum of Northwest Art, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Eiteljorg Museum, Gail Severn Gallery, Jackson Street Gallery, Stremmel Gallery, and Munson Gallery.