Salida Book Review

Sweet on the West: How Candy Built a Colorado Treasure (Western Passages), by Ann Scarlett Daley (Editor), Denver Art Museum. TPB. William and Dorothy Harmsen were true American entrepreneurs—the ice cream store they opened in Golden, Colorado, in 1949 grew into the wildly successful Jolly Rancher Candy Company. In choosing that name for their business, the Harmsens embraced the American West as the defining identity of their company. Soon, they also began to collect art that depicted the American West. They bought works of art by recognized masters of American western art such as George Catlin and Ernest Blumenschein, but they also acquired works by artists who were taking contemporary approaches to time-honored western themes. The Harmsens were generous about sharing their collecting with the public, lending paintings to exhibitions and museums and sending groups of objects out on tour and, in 2001, donating the collection to the Denver Art Museum.

This, the second volume of the Institute of American Western Art’s ongoing book series Western Passages, celebrates the Harmsen’s legacy as Colorado businesspeople and philanthropists. Ann Scarlett Daley’s lively introductory essay details the story of the Harmsens’ success in building both their business and their collection. Following the essay is a full-color gallery of treasures from the Harmsen collection, accompanied by commentaries by scholars of American art.