Five cowboys are sitting around a camp stove.
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Noon on the Diamond A

Van Soelen, Theodore

1956

Artwork Information

  • Title:

    Noon on the Diamond A

  • Artist:

    Van Soelen, Theodore

  • Artist Bio:

    American, 1890–1964

  • Date:

    1956

  • Medium:

    Lithograph

  • Dimensions:

    14 1/8 x 19 7/8 inches

  • Credit Line:

    Wichita Art Museum, Museum purchase, Burneta Adair Endowment Fund

  • Object Number:

    1990.60

  • Display:

    Not Currently on Display

About the Artwork

Van Soelen’s lithograph—based on his painting of the same name—features ranch hands taking a lunch break. Seated on tires, benches, and the ground, they are backed by a makeshift outdoor kitchen piled with pots and pans. Their slumped, relaxed postures speak to their weariness but also reinforce the image of the cool, nonchalant cowboy popularized in midcentury popular culture. The print’s title likely refers to the Diamond A Ranch, a legendary 500-acre ranch in New Mexico’s bootheel region now owned by the Nature Conservancy.