In the death of Paul Salisbury, Provo has lost one of its best-loved artists–a man known widely in America for his western art.
Painting from a natural, realistic approach, Mr. Salisbury generally chose subjects from the western landscape and its inhabitants. Pioneers, Indians, cowboys, horses, cattle, wagons, rivers, mountains, deserts – these were his characters and he cast them well.
Usually he painted action into his scenes – scenes that came alive with realism and portrayed a message or transported the viewer through some pleasant or nostalgic experience.
Mr. Salisbury was born in Richfield and had his first experience toward an art career sketching horses and other animals on his father’s ranch near the Kanosh Indian Reservation. He didn’t try to start at the top. Rather, he spent painstaking hours studying the form or anatomy of the animal or whatever subject he portrayed. This laid the groundwork for realistic painting – a formula which paid off in public demand for his work.
Although he studied art beyond the boundaries of this state, he was first and always a Utahn and lived in Provo most of his life. There were lean years, to be sure, and he doubled as a musician to supplement income until his art career took wing. He received help and encouragement always from his wife and family.
As an individual, he was a real, down-to-earth man – a common man with an uncommon talent and touch.
Paul Salisbury will live on in memory wherever good western art is discussed – and more intimately, through the hundreds of his fine paintings which grace homes, schools, and public buildings.