Yesterday, on Friday the Thirteenth, we went to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth. My parents, both in their eighties, took us there in a week-long celebration of Dorin’s graduation from high school. It was a worthy thing. Unlike most kids, my three are not bored to apoplexy by art museums. In fact, for most of the exhibitions, they traveled at my heels. It seems I know enough about art to fascinate them. All three of them are amateur artists themselves.
The Amon Carter Museum is centered on old Mr. Carter’s collection of the paintings of Frederick Remington and Charles Russell.
Remington was an adventurer and story-teller. He was also a sculptor with a gift for creating action-filled scenes in bronze. The Bronco Buster, the statue pictured here, is on prominent display in the foyer of the museum. It is one of Remington’s first, and one of his best known (in large part due to the Amon Carter Collection). The painting that follows was used as an illustration for one of his western stories. Remington wrote western novels, articles about the west, and factual essays about Native Americans. He had actually lived with Indians for a while and did a lot to lend credibility to everything he wrote about them. He didn’t save them from the depredations of the white man, but then, who could have done that? His nighttime scene is ultra-realistic and you can learn a lot about Indians just by studying the picture.
Russell came after Remington by a few years, but he was a contemporary and an admirer of Remington’s work. Russell is also an artist of intricate detail and accuracy, having also studied Indians from inside their villages and camps. The Silk Robe painting shown below and exhibited at the Carter reveals detailed knowledge of curing a buffalo hide that only could have come from watching the process in real life. He also did bronze sculpture and watercolor paintings along with his fantastic oil paintings. In fact, in his day, Russell was considered a sculptor who also paints. I don’t know how you can look at his cowboy art and still believe that. He is a truly masterful painter.
You’ll have to forgive me for taking a break from the usual humor blog, but I have an overwhelming love for art and painting, and this museum visit put an Indian arrow right through my silly old heart.
Catch a Falling Star 