Curator’s Corner

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 [...]

Today we highlight a work by New Jersey artist Charles Schreyvogel. As noted on our blog, Schreyvogel gained national attention after a much publicized controversy between the artist and Frederic Remington. Best known for his depictions of horse soldiers of the Indian Wars, Schreyvogel’s Attack on the Herd is a unique composition in that it portrays a cowboy protagonist rather than a cavalryman. The striking canvas engages the viewer, inciting visual curiosity as the exciting spectacle of frontier conflict unfolds. Charles Schreyvogel, Attack on the Herd (Close Call), c. 1907, Oil on canvas, 26 1/8 x 34 1/4 inches [...]

In part three of our ongoing series celebrating the spirit of the stock show, we’ll focus on bucking broncs. While today bronc riding is a classic rodeo sporting event, this skill originates from the working cowboy’s necessary aptitude in horse breaking. The Sid Richardson Museum collection includes many examples of cowboys exercising such skillfulness, with or without success. Charles M. Russell, When Cowboys Get in Trouble (The Mad Cow), 1899, Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches “I never got to be a bronk rider but in my youthfull days wanted to be and while that want lasted [...]

While he is better known as a painter, Charles M. Russell was as skillful with clay as he was with paint. As a young boy, he showed natural talent for modeling the heroes and animals of his dreams. Family lore has it that his first clay sculpture was a bear, modeled from clay the four-year-old scraped from his shoes. Critics praised the accuracy of Russell’s observation and animated naturalism of his subjects in both paint and bronze, but many contemporaries considered him more gifted as a sculptor. While Russell’s bronzes lack the refined unity seen in works by his academically [...]

Western Treasures reunites significant paintings by Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remington, and their contemporaries with rarely seen paintings from the Museum’s permanent collection, combined with six bronze sculptures by Remington and Russell on loan from private collectors. The exhibition provides an opportunity to celebrate the strength of the collection and gain an appreciation of the early work of Russell, with emphasis on his affinity with the American Indian. Charles Russell, Seeking New Hunting Grounds (Breaking Camp; Indian Women and Children On The Trail), ca. 1891, Oil on canvas, 23 3/4 inches x 35 7/8 inches Seeking New Hunting [...]