Autumn Leaves

It's time to bid farewell to summer and welcome fall.

This artistic tribute to fall is created by W. Herbert Dunton. A self-described cowboy and avid outdoorsman, Dunton saw the rugged West fading away before his eyes, and he determined to hand down to the American people visual records of wildlife.

In Fall in the Foothills, the artist captures the quiet elegance of a mother bear and her two inquisitive cubs at home in the sun-drenched autumn landscape.

See this work and many other mesmerizing views of the West in Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum at Akron Art Museum in Ohio.

Source: Merry Foresta. Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).

Pictured: W. Herbert Dunton, 1878–1936, Fall in the Foothills, about 1933–34, oil, 34 x 42 1/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.