Blog

5 01, 2015

Bill and Charles

2020-01-17T14:15:22-06:00January 5th, 2015|1 Comment

Yesterday marked Charles Schreyvogel’s birthday. The young artist grew up in New York and New Jersey, but traveled to Europe where he studied at the Munich Art Academy. Schreyvogel returned weak and sickly. Although the doctor urged Schreyvogel to seek the dry, hot air of the American West, in the 1890s, the closest the artist could get to the West was William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody’s Wild West Show in New York. The traveling performance became one of Schreyvogel’s primary sources of information about Native Americans. He spent many visits sketching the actors from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows. It [...]

30 12, 2014

Museum Reflections

2020-01-17T14:14:33-06:00December 30th, 2014|0 Comments

As 2014 comes to a close, we take this time to reflect on the past year. Hosting two special exhibitions and several public programs, the museum reached a large a diverse group of people. We welcomed over 40,000 visitors this year! In addition, through our school tour programs, the education department shared our collection and exhibitions with nearly 3,500 students. Besides a docent-guided tour through the galleries, the students get to experience hands-on activities in the studio, which allow them a way to relate their personal response to the collection with their own artistic experience. Art activities can range from [...]

22 12, 2014

Happy Holidays 2014

2020-07-22T15:08:40-05:00December 22nd, 2014|1 Comment

The holiday season can be filled with joy and merriment. But it can also be a time of stress and anxiety. To help assuage your concerns, we consulted some of the artwork in our galleries for advice on how to best enjoy the season’s celebrations. Frederic Remington | The Puncher | 1895 | Oil on canvas | 24 x 20 1/8 inches SRM: Travel during the holidays can be a mess. Do you have any tips for transportation? Puncher: Find a dependable vehicle. The last thing you want to worry about is your carriage falling apart, leaving you [...]

16 12, 2014

Thank you, Docents!

2020-01-17T14:12:28-06:00December 16th, 2014|2 Comments

Yesterday we celebrated our wonderful group of docents with a holiday luncheon. We are so honored to work with such a talented and caring ensemble of volunteers. These men and women are vital to our art museum. Through their passion and knowledge of art of the American West, the docents help to positively shape visitor’s attitudes about art and museums. We’re not the only ones who appreciate our volunteers. At the end of every field trip, we send out a survey to assess student visits and learn how we can better serve future school groups. Here is just some of [...]

10 12, 2014

The Push for a National Art

2020-01-17T14:11:13-06:00December 10th, 2014|0 Comments

Our current exhibition, Take Two: George Catlin Revisits the West, features a selection of paintings from Catlin’s Second Indian Gallery. These works revisit paintings from Catlin’s First Indian Gallery, a collection of works that the artist tried to sell to the U.S. government – on several occasions. Historically, artists in Europe and elsewhere were financially supported through commissions and patronage, often from the church or governing monarchy. Unfortunately for Catlin, the congressmen of the U.S. government generally considered artistic patronage to be a minor concern, focusing more efforts on the controversial expansion of slavery into the newly acquired western territories. [...]

3 12, 2014

Catlin in Context

2020-01-17T14:10:15-06:00December 3rd, 2014|0 Comments

Like George Catlin and his summer excursions to the American West in the 1830s, many American painters were inspired by an adventurous lifestyle in the early 19th century. These artists experienced unspoiled terrain and wanted to convey the splendor and excitement of the nation’s wilderness. A well-known artistic movement from this period was that of the Hudson River School. American artists like Thomas Cole and Asher Durand used their canvases to capture the beauty of rural life and the sublimity of the untamed frontier. Influenced by Romanticism, their paintings present a dramatic and dreamy view of the country. Thomas [...]

25 11, 2014

The Sash

2020-01-17T14:09:38-06:00November 25th, 2014|0 Comments

During last week’s blog post, I shared an exciting discovery revealed during a recent Tea & Talk program, which enlightened me about the Métis people. After some further research, I learned about another connection our collection has to this tribe. Frederic Remington, Buffalo Runners - Big Horn Basin, 1909, Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 51 1/8 inches When you view Remington’s Buffalo Runners, you’ll notice that the figures, the Métis, are wearing a sash around their waists, the trimmings of which blow in the wind from the hurried gallop of the horses. This sash is a typical [...]

19 11, 2014

Tea & Talk Reflections

2020-01-17T14:08:38-06:00November 19th, 2014|0 Comments

As mentioned previously, Tea & Talk is a regularly scheduled program every second Wednesday of the month at 2pm (September-May). We take a look at two selected works of art, spending about 15-20min with each while sharing our thoughts and observations. The group is intimate in size, which allows for more open dialogue. During our most recent Tea & Talk, participants spent time with Catlin’s Buffalo Chase – Bull Protecting the Calves and Remington’s Buffalo Runners – Big Horn Basin. Frederic Remington, Buffalo Runners - Big Horn Basin, 1909, Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 51 1/8 inches As [...]

13 11, 2014

George Catlin Books

2020-01-17T14:07:49-06:00November 13th, 2014|6 Comments

In addition to the 17 paintings on loan from the National Gallery of Art, our current exhibition – Take Two: George Catlin Revisits the West – includes a selection of rare books on loan from a private collection. Catlin was both an artist and an author, writing and recording many of his observations and experiences from his travels West. One of the most important works on American Indians published in the 19th century was Catlin’s Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians..., which describes his travels and encounters with many tribes. Our exhibition features [...]

6 11, 2014

Catlin in France

2020-01-17T14:06:39-06:00November 6th, 2014|0 Comments

As mentioned previously, George Catlin painted 500 Native American portraits and scenes of everyday life of 48 Indian tribes—buffalo hunts, dances, games, amusements, rituals, and religious ceremonies—that he witnessed on summer excursions in 1832, 1834, 1835, and 1836. Collectively, these paintings exhibited as what Catlin referred to as his Indian Gallery. Our current exhibition, Take Two: George Catlin Revisits the West, features 17 paintings from the artist’s Second Indian Gallery. George Catlin | Nine Ojibbeway Indians in London | 1861 - 1869 | Oil on card mounted on paperboard After Catlin toured his collection around the U.S., he [...]