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Gallery Hours:  Thursday though Monday 10:30 AM to 6:00 PM

WRVAG Gallery

118 East Ramshorn Street, Dubois, Wyoming

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Joe Back was born in Montpelier, Ohio on April 12, 1899. Joe’s father was a doctor who traveled throughout the countryside making house calls for his patients. Joe was introduced to horses at an early age because of his father’s practice, their mode of transportation was horse and buggy. Following the death of his father and a move to California Joe struck out on his own, landing in Douglas working as a ranch hand at the Fiddleback Ranch.

With the United States entry into the Great War in 1917, Joe enlisted in the Navy. Discharged in 1919, Joe would return to the Fiddleback Ranch until a large roundup by the Diamond G ranch would bring Joe to Dubois.

Here he would start to lead pack trips for guests into the Tetons, one of those guests was a staff artist with National Geographic named Louis Agassiz Fuertes who, according to Wyoming Game and Fish, “When he saw Joe’s sketches, he encouraged him to attend the Art Institute of Chicago.” While attending the Art Institute of Chicago, Joe would make his first encounter with Mary Cooper. After a few years the couple would marry in 1933.

Struggling through the Great Depression as a new couple they leaned on each other to make ends meet. In 1935 they packed up and moved back to Dubois, purchasing the Lava Creek ranch where they operated a small dude ranch. In 1940 they sold the Lava Creek ranch and purchased the Rocker Y increasing the size of their operation.

When the US was thrust into the Second World War the Backs answered the call to aid the war effort and went to California where Joe was a welder in the shipyard while Mary worked as an aircraft mechanic. 

To fulfil their dream of being full time artist the Backs would sell Rocker Y in 1946 and moved east of Dubois where they built their gallery. Amongst their different artistic ventures, the Backs also wrote. Joe would go on to write Horses, Hitches and Rocky Trail one of the premier guides on horse packing. Mary, for her part, would write Seven Half-Miles From Home the name and contents inspired on the walks she would frequently take.

Joe passed away on September 7th, 1986 with Mary following after him on May 28th, 1991. Joe and Mary’s work can be seen at the Wind River Valley Arts Guild on the second floor of the Headwaters Arts and Conference Center in Dubois, Wyoming.

More History of Mary & Joe Back