Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Scottsdale Gets Bill's Best

January 19, 2002 - April 28, 2002
Fleischer Museum
17207 North Perimeter Drive (Pima and Bell Roads)
Scottsdale, Arizona 85255

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center is pleased to collaborate with the Fleischer Museum to present Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Scottsdale Gets Bill's Best. As the preeminent showman of his time, Buffalo Bill knew to take the show to the people. By sharing many of the Historical Center's treasures with the people of Scottsdale, we are following his advice.

This special traveling exhibit is organized according to four broad Western themes: the landscape, the people, the events, and the stories. While written volumes exist on each one of these topics, this exhibit attempts to capture the essence of each through the finest examples of art and objects from all of the Historical Center's collections.

The West is a truly American place. Some scholars define it by geography; others say it is a perspective or an idea. This exhibition does not take any particular side in that debate. However, we hope this extraordinary assemblage provokes the visitor to contemplate the West, to appreciate our heritage, and to understand the powerful role that the West plays in American culture.

The Fleischer Museum opened in 1990 as the first museum dedicated to American Impressionism's California school (1890-1930s). While the focus of the Fleischer collection is American Impressionism, the museum's perspective has broadened with the acquisition of Russian and Soviet Impressionism from the Cold War era (1930-1980s).