Groundbreaking Exhibition Sheds New Light on Artist of the West

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. —A new exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Frederic Remington and the American Civil War: A Ghost Story, explores an unusual and significant aspect of the artist's career: his ongoing fascination with the American Civil War. Although Remington rarely painted Civil War scenes, his legendary depictions of the American West echo the gripping themes and images of this bloody conflict that both inspired and haunted him.

The exhibition, on view June 10 through October 29, 2006, is sponsored by BerkshireBank. For over 150 years, BerkshireBank and its employees have sponsored the Berkshire community through education, human services and the arts. Exhibition-related programs for families and children are supported by the Neil and Jane Golub Foundation, Inc. & William and Estelle Golub Foundation, Inc., with additional support from Reynolds, Barnes & Hebb, Inc.

Frederick Remington (1861-1909), noted illustrator, painter, sculptor, and author, started making western art in the mid-1880s, just when two dominant attitudes emerged nationally about the Civil War: Reconciliation and the Lost Cause. "It was a time when Southerners were viewed increasingly, even in the North, as glorious heroes fighting against all odds for their homes and honor." says exhibition curator Alexander Nemerov, Ph.D. "It was a time when former enemies shook hands and the war¹s enormous bloodshed became increasingly repressed and romanticized."

During his career Remington produced more than 3,000 drawings and paintings, 22 bronze sculptures, a novel, a Broadway play, and over 100 articles and stories. At the end of the 19th century, Remington immortalized the Western experience. His romanticized vision of the heroic nature of American settlers defined a nation's character as one of independence, individualism, and stoic heroism, qualities that still resonate in American popular culture.

"A consummate reporter-artist, Frederic Remington became best known for the vigor and authenticity of his illustrations which appeared in the periodicals of his day," notes Curator of Illustration Art Stephanie Plunkett. " While he defined national sensibilities through romanticized images of the cowboy on the American frontier, Frederic Remington and the American Civil War: A Ghost Story brings together a rich tapestry of visual materials and cultural artifacts that invite a new understanding of Remington's West."

Original Remington paintings, drawings, and sculptures from public and private collections, archival Civil War photography, and select books and periodicals are included in this absorbing exhibition that sheds an entirely new light on a great American illustrator and artist. The Cavalryman's Breakfast on the Plains (c. 1892, Amon Carter Museum) and A New Year on the Cimarron (1903, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) are among the master works featured. What an Unbranded Cow Has Cost (1895, Yale University Art Gallery), one of five illustrations created for The Evolution of the Cow Puncher by Owen Wister, author of The Virginian (1902), provides a central focus for this groundbreaking exhibition, which invites a reconsideration of Remington's artistic contributions.

"Frederic Remington and Norman Rockwell created influential visual cultural legacies that defined our nation for eager mass media audiences. Remington invented our 19th century cultural understanding of the American West and Rockwell created our cultural understanding of the 20th century. Each remains a heroic figure of their time," said Museum Director Laurie Norton Moffatt.

Guest curator Alexander Nemerov, Ph.D., is a professor of art history at Yale University and the author of The Body of Raphaelle Peale: Still Life and Selfhood, 1812-1824; Frederic Remington and Turn-of-the-Century America; and Icons of Grief: Val Lewton¹s Home Front Pictures. He has also written essays on Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Putnam, Abbott Thayer and Charles Russell. A 60-page illustrated catalogue, written by Dr. Nemerov to accompany the exhibition, will be available for purchase at the Museum Store and online at http://www.nrm.org.

About Frederic Sackrider Remington (1861-1909)

Frederic Remington was born in 1861 in Canton, New York, near the St. Lawrence River. When he was just two months old, his father, newspaper owner and editor, Seth Remington, set out to participate in the Civil War, which was then in force. After raising a squadron of cavalry in the well-known Eleventh New York Cavalry, he returned home four year later with a distinguished military record to resume his work and to get to know his young son.

An active, strong-willed boy, Frederic Remington enjoyed athletics and drawing, and his school books were filled with sketches of soldiers, horses, and Native Americans. At Yale University's School of Fine Arts, which he attended briefly, he endured the academic rigors of his art classes, but had a passion for football and boxing. In the middle of his second year, after his father died, he left Yale and accepted a clerical position at the Governor¹s office in Albany, for which he was not well suited.

In 1881, lured by the mystique of the American West, he set out to retrace the steps of his heroes, Lewis and Clark and George Catlin. A few months later, he returned home with a sack full of rough, robust drawings gleaned from first-hand experience. Harper's Weekly purchased one of these, which was redrawn by William A. Rogers and published on a full page. After a second trip, he invested in a Kansas sheep ranch, and his art began to appear regularly in the popular periodicals of the day, including Harper¹s Weekly, St. Nicholas, and Outing, bringing him great success. His love of the West was evident, as he returned there frequently, collecting new material for illustrations and reporting on current events from the Indian Wars to wagon trains, trappers, buffalo hunters, cattle ranchers, and the establishment of settlements. Until the early 20th century, when his paintings became more lyrical, he objectively recorded and documented the rapidly disappearing American frontier.

In 1898, urged by artist Frederic Ruckstull, Remington began to experiment with sculpture, for which he was naturally talented. His first attempt resulted in The Bronco Buster, a noted work charged with movement, energy, and a sense of authenticity. "I always had a feeling for mud," he said, "and I wanted to do something a burglar wouldn't have, moths eat, or time blacken." He continued to captivate American audiences with his published illustrations until 1903, when he began painting and sculpting solely for exhibition. Unconcerned with literal reporting, his gallery paintings emphasized a more romanticized, reflective approach to Western subjects.

Frederic Remington interrupted his work with Western themes in 1898 when he went to Cuba as a war correspondent and illustrator during the Spanish Civil War. There he met and developed a life-long friendship with Teddy Roosevelt. When Remington died of appendicitis in 1909 at the age of 48, Roosevelt¹s eloquent eulogy read, "The soldier, the cowboy and rancher, the Indian, the horse and the cattle of the plains will live in his pictures, I verily believe, for all time."

Related Programs and Events

A high-end hoedown with boot-scootin' and square dancing with the Dooley Austin Band, drinks to whet your whistle, tasty vittles and a live auction with auctioneer Charles Flint. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Museum¹s exhibition and education programs. Tickets are $150. Call 413.298.4100, ext. 253, for reservations and more information.

Frederic Remington and the American Civil War: A Ghost Story is a hallmark exhibition examines a significant aspect of Western artist Frederic Remington¹s celebrated career: his ongoing fascination with the American Civil War. Although he rarely painted Civil War scenes, it both inspired and haunted his depictions of the American West, through a lens that echoed the themes of the conflict.

Join exhibition curator Alexander Nemerov, Ph.D., noted author and professor of art history at Yale University, for a lecture that presents Frederic Remington in an entirely new light. The exhibition includes original Remington paintings, drawings, and sculptures from public and private collections, archival Civil War photography, and select books and periodicals. An afternoon tea will be served following the lecture. Free for members; $15 guests. For reservations and more information, please call 413.298.4100, ext. 221.

The American West Lecture and Performance Series
Immerse yourself in the American West this summer on Thursday evenings in July and August. The programs are free with Museum admission.

Frederic Remington: Artist & Illustrator
Thursday, July 6, 5:30 p.m.

Frederic Remington, best known for his illustrations in the periodicals of the 1880s and 1890s, created powerful images that conveyed a strong sense of American individualism and identity. Laura A. Foster, curator of the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, NY, will explore the life of this legendary figure, who wrestled with the relationship between his diverse accomplishments as an illustrator and as a fine artist.

Gallery Tour with the Curator
Thursday, July 13, 5:30 p.m.

Join guest curator Alexander Nemerov, Ph.D., for a gallery tour of Frederic Remington and the American Civil War: A Ghost Story, and examine an overlooked but significant aspect of Frederic Remington¹s celebrated career  his ongoing engagement with the American Civil War. Dr. Nemerov will discuss his revolutionary thesis that inspired the development of this hallmark exhibition.

Passages: The Souls of Black Folk
Thursday, July 20, 5:30 p.m.

Join us for an evening of selected readings from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, a seminal work that has spoken to the concerns of African Americans and our nation for generations. A first edition inscribed and autographed copy of The Souls of Black Folk from the collection of the University of Massachusetts is featured in Frederic Remington and the American Civil War: A Ghost Story.

American Civil War Photography: A Stereoscopic Experience
Thursday, July 27, 5:30 p.m.

Join Civil War historian and author Bob Zeller for a fascinating look at the photographic history of the American Civil War, a time when the new technology of photography made graphic pictures of the conflict accessible to mass audiences, resulting in impassioned reactions nationwide. Using 3-D glasses, witness stirring stereoscopic battlefield portrayals of the Civil War.

Calamity Jane: How the West Was Fun
Thursday, August 3, 5:30 p.m.

Enjoy an evening of entertainment as Marianne Donnelly brings the legendary cowgirl Calamity Jane to life. A popular figure of the American West, Calamity Jane (1848-1903) reflects on the westward expansion with whoops, hoops, laughter, and history. Quotations from westward migration diaries and railroad lore make this an appealing program for the entire family.

Square Dancing! Western Style
Thursday, August 10, 5:30 p.m.

Kick up your heels and join us for an evening of square-dancing  Western style! The Housatonic Philharmonic will play old time instrumental music from the rural American tradition, and square dance callers Cliff and Senta Brodeur will celebrate the joys of country-western dance.

Theodore Roosevelt: Mind, Body, and Spirit
Thursday, August 17, 5:30 p.m.

A larger than life leader, Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States from 1901-1909. He was also a naturalist who collected artifacts from distant lands, a scholar and an adventurer known for facing obstacles head-on. Join actor Ted Jalewski for a historical first-person presentation emphasizing the forces that shaped Roosevelt¹s personality, leadership style, and destiny.

Across America: Cities of the West in Song
Thursday, August 24, 5:30 p.m.

From Route 66 to the San Francisco Bay Blues, songs inspired by cities across America's West abound. Celebrate special places and time-honored tunes with the Jeanne Laurin Trio, featuring Jeanne Laurin, John Sauer, and Terry a la Berry.