How the Gollings Paintings
Came to the Library
Elling William Gollings is well known as
an artist. How his paintings came to be at
Fulmer Library is not well known.
Years ago the school PTA’s supported a
program to display some paintings in the
schools. Paintings by the famous western
artist Bill Gollings were available for purchase as he had his studio in Sheridan and
at least one store sold his paintings.
The cost was low so the PTA’s decided to
buy one or more of his paintings for each
of the schools: the High School, Central
School, Coffeen, Linden and Taylor. Old
Highland and Meadowlark later had one or
more paintings to exhibit when they
opened. A source indicated that in addition
to the PTA project, one of the high school
classes may have purchased the Verendryes painting as a gift to the high school.
These Gollings paintings were hanging in
the schools without any security. Years
later, the School Board decided the originals
had become too valuable to exhibit in the
buildings. They commissioned photographer, Don Diers, to make a full color reproduction of each of them and frame them so
they could replace the originals in the
school buildings.
By agreement, the ten paintings were loaned
to the library for safe exhibit and easy public viewing. The paintings are insured under
the provisions of the school district’s insurance policy.
Compiled by
Charles W. Popovich, April 2011
The Grey Winter, 1927
Bill Gollings Sheridan, Wyoming Artist Trouble Hunters, 1921
Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library
335 West Alger
Sheridan, Wyoming 82801
Phone: 307-674-8585
Fax: 307-674-7374
Schedule:
Monday - Thursday 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Friday - Saturday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
September - May: Sunday 1 - 5 p.m.
Cowboy Hunters, 1926
Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library
November 2011
Father DeSmet Learning
the Head Waters, 1928
Elling William (Bill) Gollings
1878—1932
Bill Gollings was the popular conception of
the ideal western man, tall, dark and handsome. In the same tradition, he was a selfmade man.
Eleven of Bill Gollings’ oil
paintings hang in the Sheridan
County Fulmer Public Library.
One, Sheepherder at Camp
(above), is owned by the
library. Ten are owned by
Sheridan School District # 2
and are on loan to the library;
the paintings are hung on the
east wall clockwise in the order
listed below:
The Trouble Message, 1913
The Trapper, 1925
Beef Roundup, undated
Cowboy Hunters, 1922
The Trouble Hunters, 1921
The Verendryes, 1926
Pony Thieves, 1925
Hanging It To Him, 1915
The Grey Winter, 1927
Father DeSmet Learning
the Head Waters, 1928
During his boyhood he was shunted from
Idaho to Chicago to New York State, then
back west again. When he was 16, he fulfilled
his ambition to become a cowboy in southern
Montana and northern Wyoming. During his
spare time, he satisfied another ambition,
sketching and painting. W. E. Freeman, owner
of a paint and furniture store, sold Gollings’
first painting and begged for more. Bill
divided his time between being a summertime
cowboy and a wintertime artist, working in the
little shack he built as a studio. He often
sketched from the “hurricane deck” of his
favorite steed, but finally devised a twowheeled cart to carry himself and his painting
materials.
of them on a scholarship. He was never
satisfied with his paintings and often
suffered bouts of depression after
completing one, but his sense of humor
always saved him.
Sometimes his ready wit had an edge to it,
which made his remarks memorable. In
the free and easy West, it was customary
for a gentleman to seek an introduction to
a dancing partner. At one dance, Bill
walked up to a young lady to whom he had
not been introduced and asked her for a
dance. She said coyly, “I don’t believe
we’ve met,” to which Bill responded as he
walked off. “well, if the opportunity ever
presents itself, I’d advise you to take
advantage of it. I’m a helluva nice guy.”
That is the consensus of opinion of all who
knew Bill Gollings, Sheridan’s own
cowboy artist.
Gollings displayed his paintings in Herbert
Coffeen’s art store, where C. M. (Charlie)
Russell, Frederic Remington, Joseph Henry
Sharp and other western artists exhibited their
work. In 1917, Gollings sold four large canvases to the State of Wyoming. Thus he became a Wyoming artist, not just a local artist.
Bill was self-taught, except for two brief
sessions at the Chicago Academy of Art, one
The Verendryes, 1926