pOGDENSBURG — The Frederic Remington Art Museum is already home to the world’s most extensive collection of works by the late painter and sculptor, but on Thursday two more Remington masterpieces will go on public display./ppAs part of the Remington’s annual Night at the Museum event Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m., two new Remington masterpieces on loan for the season from private collections will be unveiled./ppLaura A. Foster, executive director of the Remington Art Museum, said each is an “exemplary cast” of Remington’s famous The Broncho Buster — and an oil painting from 1898 titled “In the Rear of the Battle — Wounded on the San Juan Road.” The painting, which depicts the aftermath of battle, will join other military works by Frederic Remington./ppMs. Foster said both works exemplify the artist’s ability to work across mediums and create stunning visuals that seem to capture the emotions, spirit and surroundings of his subjects./ppShe said The Broncho Buster cast — known as Cast No. 29 — is a high quality sand cast version of his famous sculpture on loan from a private collection in Wyoming. She said the cast will be on view in the museum’s Albert P. Newell Gallery, and will be showcased next to other Remington bronze works, including another Bronco Buster sculpture, for contrast and comparison./pp“We rearranged the Remington sculptures on display, to highlight the Broncho Buster No. 29,” Ms. Foster said. “The current arrangement, with the two Broncho Busters at the center, made me realize what an exceptional opportunity we offer to Remington fans and anyone wanting to know more about Remington’s sculpture.”/ppMs. Foster said myriad Remington works at the museum have been specially arranged under a skylight in the Newell Gallery to allow the natural lighting to enhance the beauty of each work. She said the atmosphere offers an unprecedented opportunity for both novices and experts to learn and appreciate Mr. Remington’s sculptural achievements. /pp“The skylight provides excellent light for viewing, and also offers ever-changing effects,” Ms. Foster said. “The patina on the Broncho Buster 29 is unlike any other in our collection, a medley of rich browns.”/ppThe Broncho Buster is Mr. Remington’s most iconic work, according to Ms. Foster, and in 1895, it marked Mr. Remington’s artistic leap into three dimensions at the peak of his fame as an illustrator./ppShe said it is also Mr. Remington’s most famous work, the pairing of struggling horse and rider. The cowboy and horse remain frozen in time as the rider tries to maintain his position in the saddle./pp“We never learn the result of this effort,” Ms. Foster said of the mythical rider. “For some, the sculpture represents the myth of the West, at a time of tension between civilization and the wild other.”/ppIn addition to the Broncho Buster cast, the newly loaned painting titled “In the Rear of the Battle” tells a different story and illustrates Mr. Remington’s fascination with the military./ppDespite his fascination and elevation of Army life and work, Mr. Remington never saw combat until the Spanish-American War in Cuba in 1898, according to Ms. Foster. But she said the sight of the aftermath of battle, depicted in the painting now on display, removed Mr. Remington’s lifelong enchantment with Army life. /ppPaired with his own words, the painting is a poignant expression of what he saw. /ppIn Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, published in November 1898, Mr. Remington wrote:/pp“The sight of that road as I wound my way down it was something I cannot describe. The rear of a battle. All the broken spirits, bloody bodies, hopeless, helpless suffering which drags its weary length to the rear, are so much more appalling than anything else in the world that words won’t mean anything to one who has not seen it.”/ppMs. Foster said the new painting comes to the Ogdensburg museum through the generosity of a private collector in Illinois. It will be on view into the new year in the museum’s Addie P. Newell Gallery./p
↧
