# Fred Darge artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/fred-darge/
Profile generated: 2026-10-21T07:00:46.495Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1900-03-01
- Death date: 1978-04-10
- Nationality: American
- Common media: Oil painting, Oil on panel, Oil on artist's board

## About Fred Darge

Fred Darge, born Friedrich Ernst Darge, was an American painter born in Rendsburg, Germany, in 1900. After entering the United States in 1923, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York. By the mid-1930s he was based in Texas, spending summers sketching and painting on ranches in West Texas and New Mexico. His work records the people, horses, working routines, and terrain of that region, with particular ties to the Big Bend. After military service and wartime work as a technical illustrator, Darge returned to Dallas and used a converted ambulance as a traveling studio while painting throughout Texas and New Mexico from 1946 until his death in 1978. Collectors most often encounter his oil paintings of ranch, cowboy, horse, and landscape subjects. The Museum of the Big Bend preserves a named collection of his work.

## Common works and media

Darge is commonly represented by oil paintings on panel or artist's board. Recorded and institutionally documented subjects include West Texas ranch life, cowboys and riders, horses, the Big Bend, and Texas and New Mexico landscapes. His documented practice also included carving and model-boat making; at auction, his work appears chiefly as paintings. When cataloguing a painting, retain any inscription, title, ranch or location reference, support information, and period framing or provenance, as these details can improve comparison with known examples.

## Market and appraisal context

Publicly recorded auction material for Fred Darge includes oil paintings, oil on panel, and oil on artist's board, often associated with Texas, ranch, cowboy, horse, and Western subjects. Appraisal should begin with a close review of the signature, medium and support, dimensions, condition, title or subject, and any ownership history. A specific ranch or Big Bend subject may help place a work within the artist's documented regional practice, but it does not by itself establish authenticity or value. Compare like with like: confirmed Darge works should be separated from lots catalogued as attributed, and sale results should be checked for whether reported prices include buyer premiums or fees. Recorded public results are useful comparables, not guarantees of a future sale outcome.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research with available auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots. Availability and completeness vary by artist and market.

## Sources

- Museum of the Big Bend (Sul Ross State University): https://www.museumofthebigbend.com/collections/fred-darge-collection/
- U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies: https://art.state.gov/personnel/fred_darge/
- Robert E. McKee III and Bonnie McKee: https://freddarge.com/
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/309814142/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18618556
- Sul Ross State University: https://www.sulross.edu/darge-collection-donated-to-museum-of-the-big-bend/
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/fred-darge/llm.md