Catalog of an exhibition of the same name organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, December 18, 2013-April 13, 2014, the Denver Art Museum, May 9-August 31, 2014, and at the Nanjing Museum, China, September 29, 2014-January 18, 2015.
Contents
Director's foreword -- Lenders to the exhibition -- Preface and acknowledgments -- Western dreams and buckskin fantasies / Brian W. Dippie -- Indians on the mantel and in the park / Carol Clark -- Preserved in bronze : the West's vanishing wildlife / Thayer Tolles -- Cowboys in bronze / Peter H. Hassrick -- Settling the West : fearless men and strong women / Thomas Brent Smith -- Chronology / Jessica Murphy -- Artists' biographies / Karen Lemmey -- Checklist of the exhibition
Summary
Themes of the American West have been enduringly popular, and 'The American West in Bronze' features sixty-five iconic bronzes that display a range of subjects, from portrayals of the noble Indian to rough-and-tumble scenes of rowdy cowboys to tributes to the pioneers who settled the lands west of the Mississippi. Fascinating texts offer a fresh look at the roles that artists played in creating interpretations of the "vanishing West"--Whether based on fact, fiction or something in-between. These artists, including Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington, embody a range of life experiences and artistic approaches.
"'The American West in Bronze, 1850-1925' is the first full-scale exhibition to explore the aesthetic and cultural impulses behind the creation of statuettes with American western themes, which have been so popular with audiences then and now. Both the exhibition and this accompanying catalogue offer a fresh look at the multifaceted roles played by these sculptors in creating three-dimensional interpretations of western life, whether based on historical fact, mythologized fiction, or most often, something in-between. Examples by such archetypal representatives of the West as Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are complemented by the work of sculptors such as James Earle Fraser and Paul Manship, who contributed to the popularity of the American bronze statuette even though their western subjects were less frequent."--Publisher's description.