The most obvious course of action is to check with a professional auctioneer, but original Hampton works can fetch up to $1000. At savvycollector.com, three Hampton artworks are displayed with valuations: ‘Smiling Boy’ and ‘Beaming Girl’ with authentic signature in the bottom corner, are both marked down from $750 to $450, with their rich colours and plump cheeks; the slightly more scenic ‘Smoke at Indian Rock’ is marked down from $1250 to $850 with two riders "contemplating their next move”, like something out of an Annie Proulx short story.
Bill Hampton was born in 1925 and raised on a ranch in Simi Valley, California. As early as six years of age he was painting murals on the walls of the schoolhouse that he attended. He began painting horses and Vaqueros at an early date, and at age nine won a state-wide contest with a sculpture of a water buffalo. Hampton’s style is representational realism, and he specialized in portraits of Indian girls and children, as well as cowboys and horses. He often began his work with a pencil sketch, progressing to pen and ink as he developed the character of the face, and then produced a finished painting in oil.
Hampton did not work from live models or photographs, but used his keen observation of people to create his detailed portraits. He was an admirer of the old masters, but was completely self-taught as a painter. Hampton felt his interest in Rembrandt was what contributed to the remarkably accurate flesh tones of his portraits, a characteristic often remarked upon by people who knew and collected his art.
During the 1960s and 1970s Bill Hampton exhibited his work at the Saddleback Inn Gallery in Santa Ana. He lived in the high desert region near Apple Valley and worked from a studio in his home. Bill Hampton’s art supplied many of the cowboy and Indian characters that appeared on Leanin’ Tree’s fine art greeting cards and prints beginning in the late 1960s and continuing until today. Hampton died suddenly in 1977.
Bill Hampton was born in 1925 and raised on a ranch in Simi Valley, California. As early as six years of age he was painting murals on the walls of the schoolhouse that he attended. He began painting horses and Vaqueros at an early date, and at age nine won a state-wide contest with a sculpture of a water buffalo. Hampton’s style is representational realism, and he specialized in portraits of Indian girls and children, as well as cowboys and horses. He often began his work with a pencil sketch, progressing to pen and ink as he developed the character of the face, and then produced a finished painting in oil.
Hampton did not work from live models or photographs, but used his keen observation of people to create his detailed portraits. He was an admirer of the old masters, but was completely self-taught as a painter. Hampton felt his interest in Rembrandt was what contributed to the remarkably accurate flesh tones of his portraits, a characteristic often remarked upon by people who knew and collected his art.
During the 1960s and 1970s Bill Hampton exhibited his work at the Saddleback Inn Gallery in Santa Ana. He lived in the high desert region near Apple Valley and worked from a studio in his home. Bill Hampton’s art supplied many of the cowboy and Indian characters that appeared on Leanin’ Tree’s fine art greeting cards and prints beginning in the late 1960s and continuing until today. Hampton died suddenly in 1977.
