Creative Connections

For over a century, the image associated with the Texas cowboys has been a white man, like those painted by artists Charles Russell and Frederic Remington as found in the Sid Richardson Museum’s collection. Yet, one-quarter of the 35,000 cowboys who participated in cattle drives from Texas between 1866 and 1895 were Black. Less understood or appreciated is that many of these cowboys learned their craft while enslaved.   Charles M. Russell | Cowpunching Sometimes Spells Trouble |  1889 | Oil on canvas | 26 x 41 inches   Where in Texas did many of these Black cowboys [...]

Our current exhibit, Night & Day: Frederic Remington’s Final Decade, follows the progression of color and nuance of brushstroke and surface texture in Remington’s late painting style. The 21 works included cover each year Remington was working in his final ten years. Starting from 1901 as represented by The Old Stage-Coach of the Plains from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, with slate gray and aqua blue to much greener color of night Remington gets to by 1906 as represented by A Taint on the Wind from our collection. The show ends in 1909 as Remington becomes more experimental [...]

One of the themes of our current exhibit, Night & Day: Frederic Remington’s Final Decade, is that of Remington’s progression from illustrator to fine artist. During his time, in the late 19th and early 20th century, illustrated magazines and books garnered wide popularity in the US, and thus earned the moniker the Golden Age of Illustration. Despite their popularity, being an illustrator did not carry the same status as that of a fine artist painter. In general, illustration during Remington’s time depicted a narrative from the accompanying text, often executed in black and white. Fine art painting was believed to [...]

*The following is part of a series of blog posts researched and written by Mark Clardy, SRM Docent and independent scholar.* Soundtrack of the American West Final Movement The Last Round Up   Well, pardner, fall is almost here, and we’ve reached the end of the trail.  It’s been a while since we opened the gate to this musical rodeo, but there’s still so much more to the music of the American West.  Maybe we have time to listen to one more cowboy song before we wrap up the series:  “The Last Great Roundup”.   In this final post for [...]

*The following is part of a series of blog posts researched and written by Mark Clardy, SRM Docent and independent scholar.* Soundtrack of the American West Symphony of the Border Sinfonía de la Frontera   ¡Hola, mis amigos, y bienvenidos a la sinfonía de la frontera!   For this symphony of the border, we turn our attention to the southwest to hear the music of the Mexican borderlands.  We will listen to las canciones de los vaqueros (songs of the Mexican cowboys), and los corridos de las contrabandistas de la frontera (ballads of the border smugglers).  Many of these songs [...]

*The following is part of a series of blog posts researched and written by Mark Clardy, SRM Docent and independent scholar.* Soundtrack of the American West The Other Artists   With a few exceptions, previous posts have explored the musical context of paintings by either Charlie Russell or Frederic Remington; in the last two posts, we even listened to their “playlists.”   In this blog, we’ll return to the “Soundtrack of the West”, but we’ll listen to paintings by the other artists represented at the Sid Richardson Museum.   We have heard from three of these artists before: William G. [...]

*The following is part of a series of blog posts researched and written by Mark Clardy, SRM Docent and independent scholar.* Soundtrack of the American West The Artist’s Playlists Frederic S. Remington's Playlist   Self-Portrait On A Horse | Frederic Remington | c. 1890 | Oil on canvas | 29.1875 x 19.375 inches Frederic S. Remington, At Work   Remington stayed up-to-date with currently popular music; after all, his home wasn’t far from New York City and Tin Pan Alley.  So for him, painting was not a silent activity, and visitors to his studio commented on his vocal [...]

*The following is part of a series of blog posts researched and written by Mark Clardy, SRM Docent and independent scholar.* Soundtrack of the American West The Artist’s Playlists   So far, the Symphonies in our “Soundtrack of the American West” have explored the music of Native America and the songs of the cowboys.  We have heard the actual sounds and music of the West, and also how this music was later interpreted, adapted, and arranged. This time, we’ll take a different approach.  Take a seat, unnoticed in a corner of each artists’ studio.  But instead of listening to their [...]

*The following is part of a series of blog posts researched and written by Mark Clardy, SRM Docent and independent scholar.* A Cowboy Chorale Movement 3 Song of the New Hero   In this third Movement of our Cowboy Chorale we will explore the ascension of the lowly cowboy as the symbol of virtuous American manhood in the early twentieth century, and hear the songs (hymns?) of this unlikely apotheosis.  We begin with the cowboy on stage, then follow his development as the star of the silver screen and the subject of Tin Pan Alley song writers.  Two excellent references [...]

*The following is part of a series of blog posts researched and written by Mark Clardy, SRM Docent and independent scholar.* A Cowboy Chorale   Movement 2   Cowboy Composers In this second Movement of our Cowboy Chorale we will explore the influence of cowboy songs on American composers in the early 1900s.   Cowboys and Indianists While the unfortunate soul being dragged in Remington’s The Ambushed Picket is most likely a military man, he would probably still suffer the same fate as any dying cowboy – i.e., a burial on the lonely prairie. While listening to the various arrangements [...]