Frederic Remington The Late Years

Author : Margaret Keenan
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781906347154
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (471 download)

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Download or read book Frederic Remington written by Margaret Keenan and published by . This book was released on 2008-05 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Frederic Remington was born on October 4, 1861, in Canton, NewYork. Related to painter George Catlin and sculptor Earl W. Bascom, he attended the art school at Yale University, but dropped out when his father died and soon went west to Kansas City. He married Eva Caten in 1884 and after trying the frontier life, soon moved to Brooklyn. He began to submit illustrations, sketches, and other works for publication with the western theme. Much of his early work appeared in Collier?s and Harper?s.It was during this time that Remington?s art career bloomed and he developed into a prolific artist. In his sketches he portrayed the subject matter that most captivated his interests; horses, military and the western frontier. His technical ability to reproduce the physical beauty of the Western landscape made him a sought after illustrator, but it was his insight into the heroic nature of American settlers that made him great.Unlike Charlie Russell who lived the life of a wrangler, Remington spent little time out west, visiting the region briefly several months at a time when necessary. But he captured the scenes in a way that fueled the eastern fantasy of the ?Wild West? in a way that no one else did. He was just in time to show the west before the wilder elements were subdued and the inroads of civilization that ended the frontier lifestyle.This frisson of deadly excitement was what gave Remington his appeal.Remington briefly interrupted his work with western themes in 1898 when he went to Cuba as a war correspondent and illustrator during the Spanish Civil War. He was deeply disillusioned by the realities of war, finding it not heroic, but appalling. Retiring to an island retreat on the St. Lawrence River, he continued to perfect his craft, creating much of his most famous work.Remington, of course, was not just a painter. In the mid-1890s, he had turned his talent to sculpture and quickly mastered the medium. In bronzes such as ?The Bronco Buster? and ?The Cheyenne,? he gave ""Frederic Remington"" a new dimensionto his subjects, charging them with such detail, movement, and energy they seemed ready to leap to life.In 1908, Remington made his last trip west, and died after an emergency appendectomy led to peritonitis. His extreme obesity possibly led to his abdominal problems.Over the course of his career, Frederic Remington produced more than 3000 drawings and paintings and 22 bronze sculptures. Dramatic subjects, striking realism, powerful images: Remington?s art fired the American imagination,and his vision of the western character - independent, individual, and heroic - was the way Americans wanted to see themselves.Margaret Keenan shows off Remington?s talents in this large-format tribute to the artist with over 200 of his works.