ABSTRACT
This essay is concerned with a white supremacist fantasy of American history that emerged in the late nineteenth century and is perpetuated by an association of contemporary painters known as the Cowboy Artists of America, the CM. It is a regional art form unique to the western United States. Cowboy art, both of the historical and contemporary type, is premised on nationalistic and conservative values. The ideology embedded in this art still commands powerful allegiances capable of prohibiting the publication of an earlier version of this essay.
