The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

LENDERS, EMIL WILLIAM (1864–1934).

An artist of the American West specializing in American Indians and wildlife, Emil W. Lenders was born in London, England, on May 11, 1864. Growing up in Germany, he became fascinated with the American West, specifically American Indians and their culture. He allegedly trained under academic artist Karl von Piloty in southern Germany before attending the Berlin Art School. In 1887 Lenders emigrated to the United States, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he continued to paint. He also became an alderman. While in Philadelphia, he married Eva Day in 1896, and the couple had two children, Virginia and Rita.

Shortly after becoming a naturalized citizen in 1906, Lenders found a fondness for painting scenes from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, which was touring through Pennsylvania and New York. Already known for his realistic depictions of livestock, he began painting Wild West show performers in intricate detail. He focused on American Indians, cowboys, horses, and his specialty, bison. In 1910 he traveled to Oklahoma to paint the bison on Blue Hawk Peak, the home of Wild West showman Gordon W. Lillie. Many paintings Lenders completed on Blue Hawk Peak remain part of the collection at the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum (Pawnee, Oklahoma).

Lenders apparently had no interest in living as a Victorian gentleman in the East. He wanted to be a Westerner. With long, curly hair and buckskin outfits, he cut an eccentric figure. Acting upon an invitation from Joseph Miller at the 101 Ranch, Lenders began to spend more time in the state, amassing an extensive collection of American Indian relics and memorabilia from notable friends such as William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. After purchasing a twenty-acre plot of land from the 101 Ranch, he founded the Thunderbird Ranch, which would become his base of operations. He also began an affair with celebrated sharpshooter Lillian Smith.

In 1926 he moved his art studio from the Thunderbird to nearby Ponca City. After divorcing his wife, Eva, in 1927, Lenders married Katherine Carrico, a sculptor. The couple moved to 420 Northwest Eleventh Street in Oklahoma City, and Lenders operated an artist’s studio in the Paseo District. In Oklahoma City he exhibited his art alongside that of notable artists such as Nan Sheets. Lenders was widely collected. Oklahoma art collections that hold his artworks include the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum, the E. W. Marland Mansion (Ponca City), the Fred Jones, Jr., Museum of Art (Norman), the Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa) and Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve (Bartlesville). His paintings are also found in the Smithsonian American Museum of Art (Washington, D.C.), the National Museum of Wildlife Art (Jackson, Wyoming), and the Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis, Indiana).

On April 5, 1934, after a long illness, Emil Lenders passed away at his home in Oklahoma City. His widow donated much of his American Indian artifact collection to the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of America History and Art in Tulsa. His artwork was widely praised for its realistic depiction of nature. In 1934 Walter Harrison of the Oklahoma City Times recorded, “I think his Oklahoma skies are a masterpiece. Of course, I do not know what Oklahoma was like in 1870, but I like to think of it as Lenders caught it . . . a herd of buffalo in a wallow, a sky full of white cloud swatches and an emptiness and vastness of distances that these plains leave where they ride away to meet the far horizon.”

Anna Davis