Curator’s Corner

21 02, 2024

The (Solved) Mystery of the Three Hoofprints

2024-02-23T14:17:56-06:00February 21st, 2024|2 Comments

Recently, I was spending some time walking with a colleague around our current exhibition, Charles M. Russell: Storyteller Across Media. We were lingering in one corner of the gallery that highlights a collection of objects and artworks centered around the subject of “counting coup.” What is counting coup? Counting coup was a system of graduated points wherein the first man to touch an enemy was awarded a first coup or “direct hit.” To count coup, one might use his hand, bow, lance, or perhaps rattles or whips.   Charles M. Russell | Counting Coup (Medicine Whip) | 1902 | [...]

18 07, 2023

Russell & Friends, Part 2

2023-07-20T16:22:14-05:00July 18th, 2023|1 Comment

In our last blog post, we explored Charles Russell’s friendships with a couple of well-known artists, Maynard Dixon and Philip Goodwin, the latter of which Russell collaborated with on an art project at his summer cabin. Other artists and friends Russell collaborated with include Russell’s close friend and first serious art dealer Charles Schatzlein and Butte artist Edgar S. Paxon. The three Montanans painted a portrait of an American Indian, which our museum visitors will see on display in our current exhibit, Charles M. Russell: Storyteller Across Media. Schatzlein owned the Schatzlein Paint Company in Butte, Montana and admired Russell’s [...]

21 06, 2023

Russell & Friends, Part 1

2023-06-22T12:55:26-05:00June 21st, 2023|0 Comments

While Charles Russell led a successful artistic career, largely in part to the business savvy of his wife and manager Nancy Cooper Russell, not every creative output was intended for sale. His illustrated letters and even some significant paintings and sculptures were made specifically as gifts for the artist’s close friends. Some of these works were gifted to reciprocate the hospitality Charlie and Nancy received during their travels to promote his art. Who were these friends? A section of artworks featured in our current exhibit, Charles M. Russell: Storyteller Across Media, relate to the friendships Russell kept. The cowboy artist [...]

19 10, 2022

Remington’s Revisions in Bronze

2023-01-27T09:58:51-06:00October 19th, 2022|0 Comments

Within our current exhibit, Night & Day: Frederic Remington’s Final Decade, visitors will observe how the artist returns to compositions and themes first represented in his illustrations and now reimagined as dynamically painted fine works of art. Remington’s habitual patterns of revision extend to his work in three dimensions as seen in the bronze sculptures on display in the front gallery of the museum. Remington modeled 22 subjects for bronze casting from 1895 until his death in 1909. When he started, he used the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Co. to sand cast his first 4 bronze subjects. Then sometime in 1900, Remington [...]

21 09, 2022

Night & Day: Frederic Remington’s Final Decade

2022-09-28T14:49:09-05:00September 21st, 2022|1 Comment

Opening to the public this Saturday, September 24, 2022 is a new exhibit titled, Night and Day: Frederic Remington’s Final Decade. On display through April 23, 2023, this exhibition explores works made in the last decade of Remington’s life, ranging from 1900-09, when the artist alternated his canvases between the color dominant palettes of the blue-green of night and yellow-orange of daylight.   Frederic Remington | A Figure of the Night (The Sentinel) | 1908 | Oil on canvas | 30 x 21 1/8 inches   Frederic Remington | Self-Portrait On A Horse | c. 1890 | [...]

11 03, 2022

Here Come the Saucy Riders: Women in Rodeo

2022-03-11T09:27:26-06:00March 11th, 2022|0 Comments

Here come the saucy riders, Girls who are Texas born; Who know the rhythm of riding Over prairie sage and thorn Watch how they cut and circle, Canter and gallop and pace; Each girl and horse united In a flowing pulse of grace. Surely such easy motion, Free from strain or fear, Comes only to those who are quickened By the life of the pioneer.   “Girl Riders,” by Mrs. W. E Boswell, President, National Poetry League in “Poems of the West,” Rodeo Souvenir Annual, 1947, page 67   Though many of the pages of the 1947 Rodeo Souvenir Annual [...]

16 02, 2022

Can You Savvy, Tenderfoot?

2022-02-24T18:12:04-06:00February 16th, 2022|0 Comments

Have you ever been to a rodeo? What’s your favorite event? Attendees to the annual Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo can see a series of riding and roping contests derived from the working skills of the American cowboy. The rodeo features events such as various roping competitions, barrel racing, bull riding, bronc riding, bareback and ranch saddle bronc riding. “Bareback Bronc Riding,” Rodeo Souvenir Annual, 1947, page 45 According to the 1947 Rodeo Souvenir Annual, featured in our current exhibit Saddles on Parade: The Artistry of Edward Bohlin, the rules allow the saddle bronc rider to use [...]

19 01, 2022

Saddles on Parade

2022-02-24T18:07:57-06:00January 19th, 2022|0 Comments

Opened this month is our new pop-up exhibit, Saddles on Parade: The Artistry of Edward Bohlin. On display through April 2022, the installation includes two saddles and related gear by Bohlin, along with photos and ephemera related to Sid Richardson and his involvement in the annual Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. One such item is the 1947 Rodeo Souvenir Annual. Over the duration of the exhibit, we’ll flip through the pages with you and share some fun and interesting features from the annual. Rodeo Souvenir Annual, Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show, Fort Worth, Texas, 1947, Compiled by [...]

19 05, 2021

What’s Next? Picturing the American West

2021-08-11T17:24:30-05:00May 19th, 2021|0 Comments

As we prepare to reopen the museum to the public on June 7, 2021, we are pleased to present a fresh exhibit both in person and virtually! This thematic installation features works from the Sid Richardson Museum displayed to provide new contexts and renewed insights into the collection. The works are grouped around four themes: The Bison and Plains Indian Culture, Western Archetypes, Cowboys and Native Americans, and finally Twilight into Night. Installation of Picturing the American West exhibit While the collection holds a comprehensive group of works by Frederic Remington and Charles Russell, who therefore dominate this [...]

26 04, 2021

Moran Painting’s True Identity Revealed

2021-05-11T16:56:30-05:00April 26th, 2021|1 Comment

The museum made a recent discovery about an artwork from the collection as a result of one of our public programs, Tea & Talk. Designed to help us slow down the art looking experience by spending 10, 20, or even 30 minutes with one work of art. Tea & Talk engages participants through shared conversation about what we see. During a recent virtual Tea & Talk with Peter Moran’s c. 1880-81 oil painting Indian Encampment, the conversation focused on the large number of horses in the painting, leading some to speculate that the Indigenous people in the painting may have [...]