Michael Duty Appointed Director of Art of the American West at Heritage Auctions

Dallas, TX: Heritage is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Duty as director of its newly-established category: Art of the American West. The first auction is planned for fall 2008.

Mr. Duty comes to Heritage from the Dallas Historical Society, where he served as Executive Director for three years, responsible for 3 million objects and items in the organization's collection and archives and recently completing a successful campaign for $7.4 million from the city bond program for complete renovation of the Texas Hall of State, a national landmark building.

Previously, Mr. Duty was the Executive Director of the National Western Art Foundation in San Antonio, Texas. His museum career began in 1977 at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, where he served as Director of Development and Public Relations. He went on to direct the only two museums east of the Mississippi River devoted to American Western Art and History, the Rockwell Museum in Corning, New York and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. At the Rockwell, he founded the museum's Center for Western Art, a research center and library. He was the founding director of the Eiteljorg Museum and oversaw the construction of the 73,000 square foot building, developed the mission and vision of the institution, and recruited and hired the museum staff.

Mr. Duty was one of the founders of MuseumsWest, a consortium of the leading western art and history museums in the United States and Canada. Before returning to his native Texas in 2005, he was the Executive Director of the California Historical Society in San Francisco, the state's official historical agency. CHS holds one of the West's most important art collections, as well as one of the most comprehensive libraries and archives on California and western history.

Steve Ivy, Co-Chairman and CEO of Heritage Auction Galleries commented, "I am delighted to welcome Michael, with his considerable experience and knowledge in Western Art, to spearhead Heritage's auctions in this exciting and growing field."

Mr. Duty is a frequent lecturer on American Western Art and History. He is the author of several books on the subject, including Remington's West; Southwest Realism: A New Mexico Tradition; Frontier Legacy; Dave McGary, American Realist in Bronze; and Under Western Skies: The Art of Bob Pummill. His recent book, The Cowboy Artists of America, won the Wrangler Award for best art book of 2003 presented by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. He has organized over sixty museum exhibitions on a wide variety of subjects. He has participated in art and history symposia at several institutions and universities, most recently at the annual Prix de West exhibition and symposium at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City and the C. M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Mr. Duty's latest book, published in 2005, is Western Traditions: Contemporary Artists of the American West. He is currently working on a book on Dallas, which is part of a series of history and travel books on major American cities.

For information about Heritage's inaugural auction of Art of the American West, visit HA.com/FineArt or call (800) 872-6467, extension 1712.

To reserve your copy of any Heritage auction catalogue, please contact Client Services at (800) 872-6467, extension 1150, or visit www.HA.com/Catalog to order by email.