IRVIN SHOPE 1900 - 1977 Irvin “Shorty” Shope was born on his parents’ Circle Arrow Ranch in Boulder, Montana and grew up working on ranches. Though he contracted polio when he was nine, he continued to work on the ranch, eventually becoming an excellent horseman and ranch hand. When he was 12 his father died and Shorty moved with his mother to Missoula, where he met Western artist Edgar S. Paxson who became his mentor while Shorty was still in high school.
Shope remembered Dunn as “very good for me” and his advice to “Paint a little less of the facts and a little more of the spirit. Paint more with feeling than with thought.” Shope began as an illustrator, receiving commissions for book and magazine covers and murals for the University of Montana. He also worked for the Montana Highway Department illustrating maps, brochures, and posters. And later, he became the chief graphic artist for the Montana Power Company.
After high school Shope attended Reed College and the Portland Art Academy. And when at the age of 30 he’d sold his first painting, he returned to college attending the University of Montana, where he spent his winters in class and his spring and summers working as a cowboy, leaving drawings at every ranch he rode or worked on. Eventually, Shope earned a Bachelor of Art degree in Art, History, and English from the University of Montana.
In 1959 and 1960 Shope was commissioned to produce 11 paintings for The Northwest Paper Company featuring Mounties, Indians, ranchers, and cattle. However, Shope’s preferred subjects were Blackfeet Indians and cowboys against backdrops of mountains and deserts. In fact, when he was 37 the Blackfeet tribe adopted Shope, giving him the name “Moquea Stumock,” meaning “Wolf Bull - Man the Size of Wolf with Heart Big Like Buffalo.”
Shope remembered that, “Charles M. Russell complimented my work to those who wished to finance my future study in New York, but he encouraged me to stay in Montana and study the men, horses, and country I loved.” Nevertheless, when he was 32 Shope went on to study at the Grand Central School of Art in New York for a year with Harvey Dunn, who was probably had the greatest influence on Shope’s career.
Shope said his goal as an artist was, “to paint Western history as truthfully as research on its subjects will allow …” and that he believed, “One good painting is worth 10,000 words.” But, one small symbol seems to speak volumes about the man. Shorty Shope signed his paintings with the distinctive Circle Arrow brand of the Montana ranch where he was born.
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