Vivi Crandall HOT DATE (elk) Mint Condition

  Vivi was a native of Germany and trained in Europe. She came with her family to New York in 1964 and is best known for her dramatic, action-filled renderings of wildlife. Vivi met her husband Gary in Washington D.C. where they both worked for the Washington Post. She worked as a graphic artist, winning more than 20 advertising awards for the paper in five years. She was the “darling of the Post,” Gary says. She was his darling, too. In 1973 they resettled in Wyoming at the Bar 11 Ranch in Muddy Gap. Vivi continued to paint for friends and family but did not return to it fulltime until the early 80’s. After amassing a great deal of knowledge on North American wildlife and with her photographic memory she, naturally, started to paint the animals that had become a large part of her life. In 1983, she had a large wildlife art show in Houston, which led to a deal with a publishing house to make and sell prints of her work. In 1985, Vivi and Gary became their own publishers. Her work continues to be among the most popular of all wildlife art and most has been long sold out from the publisher. Collectors waited, sometimes years, for an original. Perhaps more importantly, Vivi's art has raised over a million dollars for Wildlife causes with Ducks Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wildlife Foundation, Wyoming Wildlife Foundation and she was the 1997 Featured Artist for the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep. Sadly Vivi has left this world, but she has left behind an extensive legacy of much loved and sought after prints and original works