"The Cowboy" Bronze Sculpture, after Frederic Remington

This is a beautiful bronze sculpture entitled "The Cowboy" after Frederick Remington. This is a table-sized reproduction of one of only twenty two bronze sculptures Remington created during his life, and the only large-scale bronze he created. 

Although born, raised, and educated on the East Coast, Frederic Remington (1861-1909) achieved considerable success as America’s leading illustrator of life on the western frontier. His career took off in the mid-1880s when he began making western illustrations for Harper's Weekly and many other widely read New York magazines. Accompanying both factual news reports and colorful fictional tales, Remington's pictures delighted and informed an East Coast populace hungry for information of the new frontier. Remington traveled West repeatedly and greatly admired the rough and intrepid cowboys and soldiers he met there. He enjoyed meeting them and hearing their stories during his visits as a journalist and illustrator.

Remington produced over 3,000 signed works. Most of them were illustrations, but as he grew older, he turned away from the publishing world and accomplished masterful paintings and drawings. From 1895 to his passing, Remington turned to sculpture and impressionistic oil-on-canvases. He created 22 stunning, energetic bronzes, most of which were created using the lost-wax method of casting.

This vigorous portrayal of a horse and rider racing to the brink of a precipice was the artist’s only large-scale bronze. The sculpture was commissioned by the President of the Fairmount Park Art Association, for permanent installation in the Philadelphia park. Up to this point in his career, Remington had only worked on a smaller scale and was intrigued by the prospect of a larger work. Remington drove through Fairmount Park and selected the site for his future installation, a rock ledge jutting out over East River Drive. As the records indicate, the site was “Mr. Remington’s choice and not selected until after he got a horseman to pose for him in that exact place.”  The sculpture’s model was Remington's friend, Charlie Trego, from Chester County, Pennsylvania, who had previously managed Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Installed in 1908, the statue stands as one of the country’s earliest examples of site-specific art.

CONDITION:

Very good condition. Bronze sculpture, set on a green marble base. Moderate wear and patina. Signed in bronze at base, "Remington."

Dimensions: 12"H x 11"W x 4 1/8"D. 

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.