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Contrabandista a la Frontera is unusual among Frank Tenney Johnson’s oeuvre, or collection of works, in portraying gunfire but representative in showing one of his favorite color schemes. This work suggests why Johnson’s reputation as a pure painter – an artist rather than an illustrator – secured his election as an associate in the National Academy of Design in 1929 and as a full member eight years later, a distinction bestowed upon only three other artists represented in our collection: Gilbert Gaul, William R. Leigh, and Peter Hurd. Frank Tenney Johnson, Contrabandista a la Frontera, 1925, Oil on canvas, [...]

Although known for his depictions of cowboys and American Indians, Charlie Russell gave much attention to the wildlife that surrounded him near his Montana homestead. In fact, compositions of wild animals comprise roughly a quarter of the artist’s total production and attracted avid patronage during his career. However, scholars have paid little attention to Russell’s wildlife art. A new exhibition hopes to change that. On May 17, Harmless Hunter: The Wildlife Work of Charles M. Russell premieres at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming before touring to the Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning, New York, [...]

Russell’s When Cowboys Get in Trouble shows a scene familiar to many cowboys. Two of the horses are rearing and trying to buck their riders so they can flee from the mad cow. The saliva flying from the cow’s mouth reveals its frustration, and you can sense the horses’ fear in their widened eyes! In the middle of all the confusion, the cowboy on the gray horse frantically tries to pull his gun out without tangling his hand in the rope. Will he get to the gun before it’s too late? Charles M. Russell, When Cowboys Get in Trouble [...]

On a starry night, a stagecoach pulled by six horses travels on a moonlit path through a mountainous range when the horses get spooked. What has terrified the horses? The artist, Frederic Remington, does not tell us, but instead implies that there is something beyond the painting’s frame. The title, A Taint on the Wind, suggests that the horses smell traces of a foul odor in the breeze, causing them to pull of the reins. Frederic Remington, A Taint On the Wind, 1906, Oil on canvas, 27 1/8 x 40 inches While stagecoach travel was a popular mode [...]