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The collections of the Whitney Gallery of Western Art present a panorama of art about the American West, commemorating the events and people and celebrating the landscape of this region. Through a chronological survey from the early nineteenth century to contemporary times, the artworks narrate a history of the West.

Frederic Remington (1861-1909) became one of the most famous Western artists through his archetypal depiction of the Wild West — bucking broncos, danger and conflict. Late in his career, as he loosened his brushstrokes and experimented with color, Remington painted masterworks, such as Radisson and Groseilliers, which portrays a more harmonious encounter with the frontier.

William Ranney (1813-1857) created genre paintings, scenes of everyday life on the American frontier. In his work, Advice on the Prairie, he portrayed a group of Western settlers traveling on the Oregon Trail. As they are camped with their wagon for the evening, the settlers listen to the counsel of an experienced mountain man, a representative of an earlier period of frontier history. He tells tales of what they will encounter, as part of this new wave of western settlement. The mother and child point to the promise of future generations.

Thomas Moran's (1837-1926) name became synonymous with Yellowstone National Park. After he accompanied the official governmental expedition into the region in 1871, Moran's sketches of the wonders helped to convince Congress to establish Yellowstone as the first national park the very next year. The artist returned to the park in 1892, with photographer William Henry Jackson, to create memorable images of the park, such as this view of the Golden Gate Pass, for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Conflicts in the American West inspired many artists. Custer's Last Stand, Edgar S. Paxson's (1852-1919) monumental history painting of the Battle of the Little Big Horn - where the cavalry regiment led by Lt. Col. George A. Custer was annihilated - was based on studies of the battlefield and reports from the officers of supporting regiments.

In the early years of the 20th century, Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953) divided his time between painting the Northern Plains Indian tribes of Montana and the Southwestern tribes of New Mexico. In The Broken Bow, Sharp depicts a tender scene of family life, but combines elements of the two culture areas, using Plains clothing and an adobe setting.

In the latter half of the twentieth century the West changed extensively with growing populations and urban expansion. Yet the region maintained an identity based on its nineteenth century history. Artists have made an important contribution to this identity, because they have kept the myths of the West vividly before our eyes - but they also bring forth reminders that the West exists within the complexity of the twenty-first century.

James Bama (b. 1926) uses a style of realism that appears to be photographically precise in A Contemporary Sioux Indian. Here Bama presents a young Sioux who evidences connections with Indian traditions, yet is also very much a contemporary person in a world that does not easily accept him.

Please find image creditlines below.

Whitney Gallery of Western Art Bibliography

For more information on our collections, please see the works listed in the following bibliography.

Boehme, Sarah E. Whitney Gallery of Western Art. Cody, Wyoming: Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 1997.
Overview of the holdings of Whitney Gallery with selections of major works of art from the early nineteenth century to contemporary times. Softcover. 76 pages, 93 color illustrations.

Boehme, Sarah E. Absarokee Hut: The Joseph Henry Sharp Cabin. Cody, Wyoming: Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 1992.
Essay on Sharp's work on the Crow Reservation, where he built a log cabin that now sits on the grounds of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Illustrations of the cabin, its contents, and Sharp's paintings in the Center's collections. Softcover. 64 pages, 45 illustrations.

Boehme, Sarah E., Gerald T. Conaty, Clifford Crane Bear, Emma I. Hansen, Mike Leslie, and James Nottage. Powerful Images: Portrayals of Native America. Seattle and London: Museums West in association with the University of Washington Press, 1998.
Catalogue of a special exhibition organized by Museums West, a consortium of museums devoted to the West. Contains many works of art from the Whitney Gallery as well as works from other Museums West members.

Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Scottsdale Gets Bill's Best: Selections from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Scottsdale: FFCA Publishing Company, 2002.
Exhibition catalogue for a traveling exhibition featuring highlights from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center's collections. Essays. Softcover.132 pages, 121 illustrations.

Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Treasures from Our West. Cody, Wyoming: Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 1992.
Highlights from the Center's then four museums and library. Softcover. 60 pages.

Fees, Paul and Sarah E. Boehme. Frontier America: Art and Other Treasures of the Old West from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. New York: The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Catalogue of a traveling exhibition organized from Center's collections with emphasis on the Whitney Gallery of Western Art. Curatorial essays. 128 pages, 120 illustrations. Out of print.

Hassrick, Peter H. and Melissa J. Webster. Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings. Cody, Wyoming: Buffalo Bill Historical Center in association with the University of Washington Press, 1996.
Two volumes listing all known Remington paintings, watercolors and finished drawings with an illustration for each. Catalogue arranged by date with information on materials, size, early publication data and current location. Accompanying CD-ROM reproduces catalogue and contains additional information on ownership and exhibition history. Essays, bibliography. Index of Collections identifies works in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Hardcover. 938 pages, over 4,000 illustrations.

Hassrick, Peter H. The Frederic Remington Studio. Seattle, Washington and London: University of Washington Press in association with the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 1994.
Essay on the artist's working studio, which has been reconstructed at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Photographs of paintings and objects originally in artist's personal collection and now in the Center's. Softcover. 64 pages, 56 illustrations.

Some of the in-print publications in this bibliography may be purchased online from Museum Selections, or you may order by telephone at 307/587.3243 or 800/533.3838. You can also consult your local library. Books not in the holdings of your local library can often be borrowed through inter-library loan.

Prepared by the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 720 Sheridan Avenue, Cody, WY 82414. 13 May 2003

IMAGES

1. Frederic Remington (1861-1909). Radisson and Groseilliers, 1905. Oil on canvas: 17 1/4 x 30 in. Gift of Mrs. Karl Frank

2. William Ranney (1813-1857). Advice on the Prairie,1853. Oil on canvas: 38 3/4 x 55 1/4 in. Gift of Mrs. J. Maxwell Moran.

3. Thomas Moran (1837-1926). Golden Gate, Yellowstone National Park,1893. Oil on canvas: 36 1/4 x 50 1/4 in.

4. Edgar S. Paxson (1852-1919). Custer's Last Stand, 1899 (detail). Oil on canvas, 70 1/2 x 106 in.

5. Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953). The Broken Bow, c. 1912. Oil on canvas: 44 1/2 x 59 3/8 in.

6. James E. Bama (b. 1926). A Contemporary Sioux Indian, 1978. Oil on panel: 28 3/8 x 35 3/8 in. William E. Weiss Contemporary Art Fund.