VINTAGE Frederic Remington "The Cheyenne" signed plaque scarce

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 173751449446 VINTAGE Frederic Remington "The Cheyenne" signed plaque scarce. A vintage  " The Cheyenne" 5.5 inch diameter by Roman Bronze Works plaque with a lot of age and green patina.
This project is supported by the generous contributions of The Holland Foundation, Iowa West Foundation, Nebraska Arts Council, Peter Kiewit, and Wells Fargo. Frederic S. Remington                                                    a biography © Joslyn Art Museum 2012; all images are collection  of Joslyn Art Museum unless otherwise noted Timeline 1860 1861  Frederic Sackrider Remington is born on October 4 in Canton, NY Frederic Sackrider Remington was born on October 4, 1861, in Canton, New York, to parents Seth Pierre Remington and Clarissa Bascom Sackrider.  His father, a journalist and newspaper publisher by trade as well as a civil war colonel, perhaps provided his son with an interest in journalism as well as heroic glorious interpretation of military conquests. Remington began sketching cowboys and soldiers at an early age and attended various military schools though it was clear he was not meant to be a soldier. To try some formal art training, he enrolled in Yale University, but he was drawn to the action of non-academic pursuits including football and boxing. A turning point came when his father passed away, Remington left Yale and the dull studio assign - ments (still life and plaster cast drawing) he disliked. A variety of brief jobs kept him busy until 1881 when he departed on his first adventure West to seek out his fortune.  This was also after his father-in-law denied his sweetheart Eva Canten’s hand because he was not impressed with Remington’s lack of financial responsi - bility.  He worked as a cowboy, scout, sheep herder, and ranch cook while sketching everything he saw, from shrinking buffalo herds to military conflicts with Ameri - can Indian tribes. His view was raw; his illustrations reflected the more authentic feeling of the West.  He sent a sketch to Harper’s Weekly  and it is considered his first published illustration, though it was redrawn by W.A. Rogers before it appeared in the Feburary 15, 1882, issue. Remington’s next significant venture came in 1883 when he decided purchase a Kansas sheep ranch. During this time he continued to sketch, but ranch work proved to be rough and wool trade boring to Rem - ington so this career was short-lived.  After heading home to retrieve funding from his mother, he returned to Kansas City to start a hardware business which eventually succumbed to an alleged swindle.  Finally, with his remaining money, he invested in a saloon as a silent partner then went back east to marry Eva in 1884.  Remington’s new bride detested the saloon life and was not impressed with his sketches of saloon patrons so she quickly retreated east to live with family.  Remington bartered his sketches and paintings for necessities and then found success selling his paintings.  Transitioning the hobby into a real profession, he returned east in triumph to reunite with his wife. Publishers interested in his illustrations of the west, sent Remington as an artist- correspondent to cover events such as the United States war against Geronimo in Arizona in the mid 1880s, the South Carolina earthquake of 1886, and the Spanish-American war in 1898.  While on these and other assignments, he retrieved artifacts, took photos, and created many sketches, all which he would use later in his studio to produce artworks.  His vision of his experience in the West was slightly embellished, but that only added to his “cowboyish” persona. In 1890, Remington had his first solo show.  By then he was estab - lished in society, and his “Wild West” adventures made him a celebrity of sorts.  His illustrations could be found in many businesses and homes whether in numerous publications, illustrated books, or artworks hung on the walls.  His commission in this decade took him to Dakota Territory, Mexico, Cuba, Europe, Russia, and North Africa. 1865 1870 Frederic S. Remington American, 1861–1909 Bronco Buster 1825 bronze, 24 1/2 in. high Bequest of N.P. Dodge, 1954.303 Discussion Questions Is Bronco Buster a sculpture or a statue?  Why?  What is the difference? m It is thought that Remington’s artworks are a moment in a story.  What is  Bronco Buster’s story, and how does it begin and end? m Remington traveled to “the West” many times.  What do you consider to be the West?  How does it compare with Remington’s West? m Imagine you journeyed westward with Remington.  How would you travel there?  What would you sketch? He decided to try sculpture in 1895 by creating his first bronze, Bronco Buster .  Following the dismal success of his novel and the stage play based on his character “John Ermine” he decided to devote his time entirely to sculpture and painting, including creating a successful series of nocturnal paintings. To make a statement that he was done with illustration, in the late 1890s he burned dozens of his artworks that had been used in publi - cations.  Also, as civilization was encroaching on his “Old West,”e shared his thoughts in a letter to his wife dated November 1900,  “Shall never come west again. ...it spoils my early illusions – and they are my  capital.” The final two years of his short life were spent in studio due to his declining health.  Remington wished to be outside with his fellow artists painting “plein air” (associated with the Impressionism style though this quality may only be seen in the backgrounds of his later artworks.  On December 26, 1909, America lost their cowboy at the height of his career, when he died from peritonitis after an emergency appendectomy. Image from Notable New Yorkers of 1896–1899: a campanion volume to King’s handbook of New York City (1899) by Moses King Portrait printed with Remington’s obituary in the January 8, 1910, Harper’s Weekly , Frederic Remington Art Museum, Ogdensburg, New York The mature Remington, c. 1909, Frederic Remington Art Museum, Ogdensburg, New York 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900 1905 B a c k g r o u n d  I m a g e : Frederic S. Remington, Canadian Northwest Mounted Police, 1890, oil on board, Gift of Mrs. C.N. Dietz, 1934.63. *Originally reproduced as an illustration in an issue of Harper’s Monthly , June 7, 1891, it was one of eighteen illustrations by Remington appearing in Colonel Theodore Ayrault Dodge’s four- part serial entitled “Some American Riders.” 1875  Receives first formal art instruction at Vermont Episcopal Institute, Rock Port, VT 1878  Enrolls at Yale College of Art, New Haven, CT 1881  Travels west to Montana Territory - first trip to the ‘Old West’ 1882  Harper’s Weekly  publishes an illustration based on a sketch Remington submitted 1884  Moves to Kansas City, invests in a hardware store then saloon 1885 Pursues an illustration career & moves to Brooklyn, NY 1886  Travels to the Southwest & submits illustrations regularly to Harper’s Weekly 1887  Exhibits in his first show at the National Academy of Design & travels to Dakota, Wyoming & Montana Territories & western Canada for Harper’s  commission 1888  Travels to New Mexico, Texas & Arizona for Century  Magazine’s  commission & two paintings are used for US Postage Stamps 1890  Holds his first solo exhibition at the American Art Association; travels to Dakota territory & visits  the site of Sioux Nation’s defeat at Wounded Knee 1892  Travels to Europe, Russia, & North Africa on Harper’s  commission 1895  Casts his first bronze sculpture, Bronco Buster, with Henry-Bonnard Company using sand-cast method 1896  Experiments with color pastels; first color illustration is published by Harper’s Monthly 1898  Travels to Cuba, Florida & Puerto Rico to document the Spanish- American War 1899  Travels to Cuba as a war correspondent for Collier’s Weekly  after Harper’s releases him from his contract due to their financial difficulties 1900  Casts first bronze, The Norther , with Roman Bronze Works using lost- wax method 1901  Publishes his first novel John Ermine of the Yellowstone 1909  Dies in Ridgefield, CT on December 26      Bronze Fabrication:  Frederic Remington in the early 1890s, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka Remington:  The Illustrator I m a g e s  ( t o p , l e f t t o r I g h t ):  Frederic S. Remington, Cutting Out Pony Herds, 1908, oil on canvas, Lent by William C. Foxley, L-2005.30; An Old Time Northern Plains Indian:  The Coup, 1908, oil on canvas, Lent by William C. Foxley, L-2005.46 ( b o t t o m ):  A Half Hour’s Halt, ink wash on paper, Gift of Barbara Birmingham, 2009.55 The Ambushed Picket , Harper’s Weekly , June 8, 1889, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth Self-Portrait on Horse, c. 1890, oil on canvas, ex-collection:  Newhouse Galleries, New York City; E.L. Dempsey, New York City “He Knew the Horse” The  Remingtons  were  excellent  horsemen  so  it  is  no  surprise  the  young  Frederic  received riding lessons from a prominent civil war cavalry colonel - his father.  In addition to riding horses everywhere, Remington included them in thousands of his illustrations. In 1889, he wrote the article “The Horses of the Plains” where he described practically every type  of  horse  found  in  his “Old West.”    He  knew  their  temperaments,  every  muscle,  and could draw them from any angle which was advantageous when he transitioned to sculpture. Remington  made  it  no  secret  that  he  hoped  his  tombstone  included  the  epitaph: Remington wanted to preserve the Old West, and he shared how it happened in Collier’s  May 19, 1905, issue:  Evening  overtook  me  one  night  in  Montana,  and  I  by  good  luck  I  made  the  camp-fire  of  an  old  wagon  freighter who  shared  his  bacon  and  coffee  with  me.    I  was  nineteen  years  of  age  and  he  was  a  very  old  man.  Over  the  pipes  it developed  that  he  was  born  in  Western  New  York  and  had  gone  West  at  an  early  age.    His  West  was  Iowa.    Thence during his long life he had followed the receding frontiers, always further and further West.  ‘And now,’ he said, ‘there is no more West.  In a few years the railroad will come along the Yellowstone and a poor man can not make a living at all....’  He  had  his  point  of  view  and  he  made  a  new  one  for  me....  I  knew  the  wild  riders  and  the  vacant  land  were about to vanish forever... and the more I considered the subject, the bigger the forever loomed.  Without knowing exactly how to do it, I began to try to record some facts around me, and the more I looked the more the panorama unfolded.... His career began with his first drawing published in 1882, and by 1890 more than two hundred of his illustrations depicting his  Old West had appeared in Harper’s , Century , and Outing  magazines.  He was the highest paid illustrator of his time and considered the best illustrator to depict the American Indian and Western lifestyle.  In total, 41 periodicals and 142 books (including some he authored) featured his illustrations.  A substantial commission for Remington was to create 400 illustrations for the special edition of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Hiawatha . Another significant project included 80 illustrations for his friend Theodore Roosevelt’s book, Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail.   Later in a letter to the editor of Pearson’s  Magazine, dated July 17, 1907,  President Roosevelt stated that  “he [Remington] has portrayed a most characteristic and yet vanishing type of American life.  The soldier, the cowboy and rancher, the Indian, the horses and the cattle of the Plains, will live in his pictures and his bronzes, I verily believe, for all time.” I m a g e s  ( l e f t t o r I g h t ):  1895 letter with pen and ink sketch from Remington to Owen Wister, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Remington modeling his first subject, The Broncho Buster, 1895, Frederic Remington Art Museum, Ogdensburg, New York; 1895 letter from Remingto to A.T. Gurlitz, with pen and ink sketch, P.Beitler, Winnetka, Illinois The Ambushed Picket , 1886, pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor on paper,  ex-collection :  Newhouse Galleries, New York City; Samuel H. Rosenthal, Jr., Los Angeles Collier’s Weekly, September 14, 1901 Throughout Remington’s career as an illustrator and painter, he developed a sculptor’s sense of vision, and playwright Augustus Thomas encouraged him to pursue this artform.  However, at first Remington lacked the confidence to try this medium until his friend and sculptor Frederick Ruckstuhl, inspired and provided him with the necessary supplies to create his first sculpture, Bronco Buster  (originally titled The Broncho Buster ), and copyrighted October 1, 1895. Henry-Bonnard Company sand-cast the first bronzes and later Roman Works would produce more copies utilizing the lost-wax method. This “illustrated sculpture” did garner some criticism, but most felt this, as well as his other bronzes, seemed alive and were about to jump off their base.  His style was revolutionary: the first Western action bronze demonstrating his technical mastery of a difficult medium.  Much like a camera, Remington’s sculptures captured a moment or incident – part of a story, and Bronco Buster  exhibits the artist’s celebrated flair for depicting this dramatic activity.  Remington went on to create 21 more bronze statues after the success of his inaugural sculpture.  Joslyn’s Bronco Buster  was a sand-cast version which was cast number 54 from Henry Bonnard’s foundry. Frederic Remington’s bronzes were created using sand cast and lost wax or cire perdue methods. With his first statues, he collaborated with Henry Bonnard using the sand cast process.  After a plaster cast is made of the final clay sculpture, and it is pressed into a sand bed in a foundry mold.  The second half of the foundry mold is clamped on the first with more sand packed into it.  A second set of molds are used to make the sand core, a place filler, which will have a steel armature support to make this hollow bronze casting.  The molds are sent to the oven to dry and harden the sand mixture, and then molten bronze is poured into that negative space.  Molds and the armature are taken apart while the bronze is still soft, and when it is cooled, it is finished and patinated.  Later in his career, Remington worked with foundryman Riccardo Bertelli’s Roman Bronze Works and the lost wax method.  For this process, a wax copy is made from the plaster cast of the original, and melted wax is brushed inside it.  Once cooled, it is opened so there is an exact wax copy where the sculptor may make changes or add more details.  At this point, a series of vents and gates are rigged on the wax model to aid with the pour.  An “investment mold” is formed with plaster and sand inside and outside of the mold.  It is all baked in a kiln and with the wax melting or “lost” leaving a hollow space the foundrymen now fill with liquid bronze.  When it is cooled, the mold is removed and the bronze cast is finished and patinated. Frederic S. Remington , Bronco Buster, 1895, bronze, Bequest of N.P. Dodge, 1954.303 (photograph from c. 1950s, lasso still attached to statue) Frederic S. Remington,  Bronco Buster, 1895, bronze, Lent by William C. Foxley, L-2005.36 SAND CAST     LOST  WAX FREDERIC S. REMINGTON (A MERICAN, 1861–1909) BRONCO BUSTER 1895, BRONZE JOSLYN ART MUSEUM© OMAHA, NEBRASKA Bequest of N.P. Dodge, 1954.303 Frederic Remington was born in Canton, New York in 1861 to Seth Pierrepont Remington and Clarissa Bascom Sackrider, whose family owned hardware stores and emigrated from Alsace-Lorraine in the early 1700's. Remington's father was a colonel in the Civil War whose family arrived in the United States from England in 1637. He was a newspaper editor and postmaster, and the family was active in local politics and staunchly Republican. One of Remington's great grandfathers, Samuel Bascom, was a saddle maker by trade, and the Remingtons were fine horsemen. Frederic Remington was related by family bloodlines to Indian portrait artist George Catlin and cowboy sculptor Earl W. Bascom. Colonel Remington was away at war during most of the first four years of his son's life. After the war, he moved his family to Bloomington, Illinois for a brief time and was appointed editor of the Bloomington Republican, but the family returned to Canton in 1867. Remington was the only child of the marriage, and received constant attention and approval. He was an active child, large and strong for his age, who loved to hunt, swim, ride, and go camping. He was a poor student, though, particularly in math, which did not bode well for his father's ambitions for his son to attend West Point. He began to make drawings and sketches of soldiers and cowboys at an early age. The family moved to Ogdensburg, New York when Remington was eleven and he attended Vermont Episcopal Institute, a church-run military school, where his father hoped discipline would rein in his son's lack of focus, and perhaps lead to a military career. Remington took his first drawing lessons at the Institute. He then transferred to another military school where his classmates found the young Remington to be a pleasant fellow, a bit careless and lazy, good-humored, and generous of spirit, but definitely not soldier material. He enjoyed making caricatures and silhouettes of his classmates. At sixteen, he wrote to his uncle of his modest ambitions, "I never intend to do any great amount of labor. I have but one short life and do not aspire to wealth or fame in a degree which could only be obtained by an extraordinary effort on my part". He imagined a career for himself as a journalist, with art as a sideline. Remington attended the art school at Yale University, the only male in the freshman year. However, he found that football and boxing were more interesting than the formal art training, particularly drawing from casts and still life objects. He preferred action drawing and his first published illustration was a cartoon of a "bandaged football player" for the student newspaper Yale Courant. Though he was not a star player, his participation on the strong Yale football team was a great source of pride for Remington and his family. He left Yale in 1879 to tend to his ailing father who had tuberculosis. His father died a year later, at age forty-six, receiving respectful recognition from the citizens of Ogdensburg. Remington's Uncle Mart secured a good paying clerical job for his nephew in Albany, New York and Remington would return home on weekends to see his girlfriend Eva Caten. After the rejection of his engagement proposal to Eva by her father, Remington became a reporter for his Uncle Mart's newspaper, then went on to other short-lived jobs. Cow Pony - Frederic Remington Cow Pony Living off his inheritance and modest work income, Remington refused to go back to art school and instead spent time camping and enjoying himself. At nineteen, he made his first trip west, going to Montana, at first to buy a cattle operation then a mining interest but realized he did not have sufficient capital for either. In the Ol' West of 1881, he saw the vast prairies, the quickly shrinking buffalo herds, the still unfenced cattle, and the last major confrontations of U.S. Cavalry and native American tribes, scenes he had imagined since his childhood. Though the trip was undertaken as a lark, it gave Remington a more authentic view of the West than some of the later artists and writers who followed in his footsteps, such as N. C. Wyeth and Zane Grey, who arrived twenty-five years later when the Ol' West had slipped into history. From that first trip, Harper's Weekly published Remington's first published commercial effort, a re-drawing of a quick sketch on wrapping paper that he had mailed back East. In 1883, Remington went to Peabody, Kansas to try his hand at the booming sheep ranching and wool trade, as one of the "holiday stockmen", rich young Easterners out to make a quick killing as ranch owners. He invested his entire inheritance but Remington found ranching to be a rough, boring, isolated occupation which deprived him of the finer things of Eastern life, and the real ranchers thought him a lazy playboy. Remington continued sketching but at this point his results were still cartoonish and amateurish. After less than a year, he sold his ranch and went home. After acquiring more capital from his mother, he returned to Kansas City to start a hardware business, but due to an alleged swindle it failed, and he reinvested his remaining money as a silent, half owner of a saloon. He went home to marry Eva Caten in 1884 and they returned to Kansas City immediately. She was unhappy with his saloon life and was unimpressed by the sketches of saloon inhabitants that Remington regularly showed her. When his real occupation became known, she left her husband and returned to Gloversville. With his wife gone and with business doing badly, Remington started to sketch and paint in earnest, and bartered his sketches for essentials. He soon had enough success selling his paintings to locals to see art as a real profession. Remington returned home again, his inheritance gone but his faith in his new career secured, reunited with his wife and moved to Brooklyn. He began studies at the Art Students League of New York and significantly bolstered his fresh though still rough technique. His timing was excellent as newspaper interest in the dying West was escalating. He submitted illustrations, sketches, and other works for publication with Western themes to Collier's and Harper's Weekly, as his recent Western experiences (highly exaggerated) and his hearty, breezy "cowboy" demeanor gained him credibility with the eastern publishers looking for authenticity. His first full page cover under his own name appeared in Harper's Weekly on January 9, 1886, when he was twenty-five. With financial backing from his Uncle Bill, Remington was able to pursue his art career and support his wife. Early career Cracker Cowboys of Florida - Frederic Remington Cracker Cowboys of Florida In 1886, Remington was sent to Arizona by Harper's Weekly on a commission as an artist-correspondent to cover the government's war against Geronimo. Although he never caught up with Geronimo, Remington did acquire many authentic artifacts to be used later as props, and made many photos and sketches valuable for later paintings. He also made notes on the true colors of the West, such as "shadows of horses should be a cool carmine & Blue", to supplement the black and white photos. Ironically, art critics later criticized his palette as "primitive and unnatural" even though it was based on actual observation. After returning back East, Remington was sent by Harper's Weekly to cover the Charleston, South Carolina earthquake of 1886. To expand his commission work, he also began doing drawings for Outing magazine. His first year as a commercial artist had been successful, earning Remington $1,200, almost triple that of a typical teacher. He had found his life's work and bragged to a friend, "That's a pretty good break for an ex cow-puncher to come to New York with USD30 and catch on it 'art'." For commercial reproduction in black-and-white, he produced ink and wash drawings. As he added watercolor, he began to sell his work in art exhibitions. His works were selling well but garnered no prizes, as the competition was strong and masters like Winslow Homer and Eastman Johnson were considered his superiors. A trip to Canada in 1887, produced illustrations of the Blackfeet, the Crows, and the Canadian Mounties, eagerly enjoyed by the reading public. Later that year, Remington received a commission to do eighty-three illustrations for a book by Theodore Roosevelt, Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, to be serialized in The Century Magazine before publication. The twenty-five year old Roosevelt had a similar Western adventure to Remington, losing money on a ranch in North Dakota the previous year but gaining experience which made him an "expert" on the West. The assignment gave Remington's career a big boost and forged a lifelong connection with Roosevelt. His full-color oil painting Return of the Blackfoot War Party was exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the New York Herald commented that Remington would "one day be listed among our great American painters". Though not admired by all critics, Remington's work was deemed "distinctive" and "modern". By now, he was demonstrating the ability to handle complex compositions with ease, as in Mule Train Crossing the Sierras (1888), and to show action from all points of view His status as the new trendsetter in Western art was solidified in 1889 when he won a second-class medal at the Paris Exposition. He had been selected by the American committee to represent American painting, over Albert Bierstadt whose majestic, large-scale landscapes peopled with tiny figures of pioneers and Indians was now considered passe. Around this time, Remington made a gentleman's agreement with Harper's Weekly, giving the magazine an informal first option on his output but maintaining Remington's independence to sell elsewhere if desired. As a bonus, the magazine launched a massive promotional campaign for Remington, stating that "He draws what he knows, and he knows what he draws." Though laced with blatant puffery (common for the time) claiming that Remington was a bona fide cowboy and Indian scout, the effect of the campaign was to raise Remington to the equal of the era's top illustrators, Howard Pyle and Charles Dana Gibson. His first one-man show, in 1890, presented twenty-one paintings at the American Art Galleries and was very well received. With success all but assured, Remington became established in society. His personality, his "pseudo-cowboy" speaking manner, and "Wild West" reputation were strong social attractions. His biography falsely promoted some of the myths he encouraged about his Western experiences. Remington's regular attendance at celebrity banquets and stag dinners, however, though helpful to his career, fostered prodigious eating and drinking which caused his girth to expand alarmingly. Obesity became a constant problem for him from then on. Among his urban friends and fellow artists, he was "a man among men, a deuce of a good fellow" but notable because he (facetiously) "never drew but two women in his life, and they were failures" (not counting Indian women). In 1890, Remington moved to posh New Rochelle, New York to his new estate "Endion", in order to have both more living space and extensive studio facilities, and also with the hope of gaining more exercise. Mature career Comanche Brave, Fort Reno, Indian Territory - Frederic Remington Comanche Brave, Fort Reno, Indian Territory Remington's fame made him a favorite of the Western Army officers fighting the last Indian battles. He was invited out West to make their portraits in the field and to gain them national publicity through Remington's articles and illustrations for Harper's Weekly, particularly General Nelson Miles, an Indian fighter who aspired to the presidency of the United States. In turn, Remington got exclusive access to the soldiers and their stories, and boosted his reputation with the reading public as "The Soldier Artist". Remington arrived on the scene just after the Massacre at Wounded Knee, in which over 300 Sioux were slaughtered and which he reported it as "The Sioux Outbreak in South Dakota", praising the Army's "heroic" actions in dealing with the Indians. Some of the Miles paintings are monochromatic and have an almost "you-are-there" photographic quality, heightening the realism, as in The Parley (1898) Remington's Self-Portrait on a Horse (1890) shows the artist as he wished he was, not the pot-bellied Easterner weighing heavily on a horse, but a tough, lean cowboy heading for adventure with his trusty steed. It was the image his publishers worked hard to maintain as well. In His Last Stand (1890), a cornered bear in the middle of a prairie is brought down by dogs and riflemen, which may have been a symbolized treatment of the dying Indians he had witnessed. Remington's attitude toward Native Americans was typical for the time. He thought them unfathomable, fearless, superstitious, ignorant, and pitiless-and generally portrayed them as such. White men under attack were brave and noble. Through the 1890's, Remington took frequent trips around the U.S., Mexico, and abroad to gather ideas for articles and illustrations, but his military and cowboy subjects always sold the best, even as the Old West was playing out. Gradually, he transitioned from the premiere chronicler-artist of the Old West to its most important historian-artist. He formed an effective partnership with Owen Wister, who became the leading writer of Western stories at the time. Having more confidence of his craft, Remington wrote, " My drawing is done entirely from memory. I never use a camera now. The interesting never occurs in nature as a whole, but in pieces. It's more what I leave out than what I add." Remington's focus continued on outdoor action and he rarely depicted scenes in gambling and dance halls typically seen in Western movies. He avoids frontier women as well. His painting A Misdeal (1897) is a rare instance of indoor cowboy violence. Remington's had developed a sculptor's 360 degree sense of vision but until a chance remark by playwright Augustus Thomas in 1895, Remington had not yet conceived of himself as a sculptor and thought of it as a separate art for which he had no training or aptitude. With help from friend and sculptor Frederick Ruckstuhl, Remington constructed his first armature and clay model, a "bronco buster" where the horse is reared on its hind legs-technically a very challenging subject. After several months, the novice sculptor overcame the difficulties and had a plaster cast made, then bronze copies, which were sold at Tiffany's. Remington was ecstatic about his new line of work, and though critical response was mixed, some labelling it negatively as "illustrated sculpture", it was a successful first effort earning him $6,000 over three years. During that busy year, Remington became further immersed in military matters, inventing a new type of ammunition carrier; but his patented invention was not accepted for use by the War Department. His favorite subject for magazine illustration was now military scenes, though he admitted, "Cowboys are cash with me". Sensing the political mood of that time, he was looking forward to a military conflict which would provide the opportunity to be a heroic war correspondent, giving me both new subject matter and the excitement of battle. He was growing bored with routine illustration, and he wrote to Howard Pyle, the dean of American illustrators, that he had "done nothing but potboil of late". (Earlier, he and Pyle in a gesture of mutual respect had exchanged paintings-Pyle's painting of a dead pirate for Remington's of a rough and ready cowpuncher). He was still working very hard, spending seven days a week in his studio. Remington was further irritated by the lack of his acceptance to regular membership by the Academy, likely due to his image as a popular, cocky, and ostentatious artist. Remington kept up his contact with celebrities and politicos, and continued to woo Theodore Roosevelt, now the New York City Police Commissioner, by sending him complimentary editions of new works. Despite Roosevelt's great admiration for Remington, he never purchased a Remington painting or drawing. The Buffalo Runner 1907 - Frederic Remington The Buffalo Runner 1907 Remington's association with Roosevelt paid off, however, when the artist became a war correspondent and illustrator during the Spanish-American War in 1898, sent to provide illustrations for William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. He witnessed the assault on San Juan Hill by American forces, including those led by Roosevelt. However, his heroic conception of war, based in part on his father's Civil War experiences, were shattered by the actual horror of jungle fighting and the deprivations he faced in camp. His reports and illustrations upon his return focused not on heroic generals but on the troops, as in his Scream of the Shrapnel (1899), which depicts a deadly ambush on American troops by an unseen enemy. When the Rough Riders returned to the U.S., they presented their courageous leader Roosevelt with Remington's bronze statuette, The Bronco Buster, which the artist proclaimed, "the greatest compliment I ever had... After this everything will be mere fuss." Roosevelt responded, "There could have been no more appropriate gift from such a regiment." In 1888, he achieved the public honor of having two paintings used for reproduction on U. S. Postal stamps. In 1900, as an economy move, Harper's dropped Remington as their star artist. To compensate for the loss of work, Remington wrote and illustrated a full-length novel, The Way of an Indian, which was intended for serialization by a Hearst publication but not published until five years later in Cosmopolitan. Remington's protagonist, a Cheyenne named Fire Eater, is a prototype Native American as viewed by Remington and many of his time. Remington then returned to sculpture, and produced his first works produced by the lost wax method, a higher quality process than the earlier sand casting method he had employed. By 1901, Collier's was buying Remington's illustrations on a steady basis. As his style matured, Remington portrayed his subjects in every light of day. His nocturnal paintings, very popular in his late life, such as A Taint on the Wind and Scare in the Pack Train, are more impressionistic and loosely painted, and focus on the unseen threat. Remington completed another novel in 1902, John Ermine of the Yellowstone, a modest success but a definite disappointment as it was completely overshadowed by the best seller The Virginian, written by his sometime collaborator Owen Wister, which became a classic Western novel. A stage play based on "John Ermine" failed in 1904. After "John Ermine", Remington decided he would soon quit writing and illustration (after drawing over 2700 illustrations) to focus on sculpture and painting. In 1905, Remington had a major publicity coup when Collier's devoted an entire issue to the artist and his art, showcasing his latest works. His large outdoor sculpture of a "Big Cowboy", which stands on the East River Drive in Philadelphia, was another late success. His "Explorers" series, depicting older historical events in western U.S. history, did not fair well with the public or the critics. The financial panic of 1907 caused a slow down in his sales and in 1908, fantasy artists, such as Maxfield Parrish, became popular with the public and with commercial sponsors. Remington tried to sell his home in New Rochelle to get further away from urbanization. One night he made a bonfire in his yard and burned dozens of his oil paintings which had been used for magazine illustration (worth millions of dollars today), making an emphatic statement that he was done with illustration forever. He wrote, "there is nothing left but my landscape studies". Near the end of his life, he moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut. In his final two years, under the influence of The Ten, he was veering more heavily to Impressionism, and he regretted that he was studio bound (by virtue of his declining health) and could not follow his peers who painted "plein air". Frederic Remington died after an emergency appendectomy led to peritonitis on December 26, 1909. His extreme obesity (weight nearly 300 lbs.) had complicated the anesthesia and the surgery, and chronic appendicitis was cited in the post-mortem examination as an underlying factor in his death.
  • Region of Origin: US
  • Artist: Frederic Remington
  • Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
  • Subject: Native American
  • Original/Reproduction: Original

PicClick Insights - VINTAGE Frederic Remington "The Cheyenne" signed plaque scarce PicClick Exclusive

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