Fred Harman
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Fred Harman (February 9, 1902 - January 2, 1982) is best known as the artist of Red Ryder, "America's famous fighting cowboy."
Harman was two months old when his parents moved from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where he grew up familiar with horses and the ranching lifestyle. Working as a pressman’s helper at The Kansas City Star, he came in contact with the artists employed by the newspaper.
He was 20 years old when he began drawing cartoons and ads at the Kansas City Filmad Co., where he met Walt Disney. The two were briefly partners in Kansas City, and after Disney headed for Hollywood, eventually so did Harman. On the West Coast, he edited, illustrated and published a Western magazine that collapsed after three issues.
When Harman drew his Bronc Peeler strip, he attempted to syndicate it himself, visiting numerous West Coast newspaper offices. In 1938, he met merchandising entrepreneur Stephen Slesinger and found success. He worked with Slesinger for a year on what would become Red Ryder. Slesinger sold the strip to NEA and embarked on an intensive campaign of merchandising and licensing with a seemingly endless parade of comic books, Big Little Books, novels, serial chapters, radio programs and products.
After Harman retired from the strip in 1964, he turned to painting at his Albuquerque studio. He was one of the original 1965 members of the Cowboy Artists of America along with Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye, John Hampton and George Phippen, and Harman's paintings were included in the first annual exhibition of the Cowboy Artists of America on September 9, 1966 at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.
Among other honors, Harman was one of only 75 white men in history to be adopted into the Navajo Nation. He died in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1982.
