# James Elliott Bama artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/james-elliott-bama/
Profile generated: 2026-05-31T06:06:43.217Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1926-04-28
- Nationality: American
- Movements: Western American art
- Common media: oil painting, etching, illustration

## About James Elliott Bama

James Elliott Bama (1926–2022) was an American painter, illustrator, and engraver celebrated for his highly realistic depictions of Western subjects. Born in New York City, he trained at the Art Students League of New York before relocating to Wyoming, where the landscape and living traditions of the American frontier became the defining focus of his career. Bama's work captures cowboys, Native American culture, and the material culture of the American West with photographic precision and an ethnographic eye. His illustrations and fine-art paintings earned recognition in both commercial and gallery contexts, bridging the traditions of Western illustration and contemporary realism. Collectors encounter his work across paintings, etchings, and published prints, with his Western figurative subjects remaining the most widely recognized.

## Common works and media

Bama produced oil paintings, etchings, and illustrations, most frequently depicting cowboys, Native American subjects, ranch life, and Wyoming frontier scenes. Collectors may also encounter published reproductions, book-cover illustrations, and limited-edition prints. His body of work includes both gallery-oriented fine art and commercial illustration commissions.

## Market and appraisal context

Bama's works appear regularly at auction, with nearly 190 lots documented, spanning original paintings, etchings, and illustration art. Value is influenced by medium, with original oils generally achieving stronger results than prints or works on paper. Subject matter matters: depictions of cowboys, Native American figures, and frontier-life scenes tend to attract the most collector interest. Provenance, exhibition history, and condition are standard appraisal considerations. Because Bama worked across both commercial illustration and fine art, attribution context and publication history can also affect how individual pieces are valued.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from library authority files, museum records, and biographical sources with documented auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For James Elliott Bama, identity data is supported by Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, Library of Congress, and Wikidata authority files, while market context draws on the Appraisily/Invaluable lot database and general Western art market knowledge.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15490366
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bama
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500027849
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/37724139/
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/4145