Remington's "The Winter Campaign"

Frederic Remington, The Winter Campaign, Oil on Canvas, 1909

A review of this work written on December 11, 1909 says, "The Winter Campaign - a group of soldiers squatting about a fire, with their horses huddling close to them to keep warm - expresses, as only Remington can the oneness of feeling of animals and men in the face of nature's menace of death.

Indeed, in all of Remington's pictures the shadow of death seems not far away. If the actors in his vivid scenes are not threatened by death in terrible combat, they are menaced by it in the form of famine thirst or cold. One sees the death's-head through the skin of the lean faces of his Indians, cowboys and soldiers; his figures are clothed and desperately active skeletons, and even about his animals there is strong suggestion of the nearness of the moment when their bones will lie bleatching in the desert."

From Frederic Remington, "The Color of Night." Image from flickr user unforth.

Three from the Western Exhibit at the Denver Art Museum

"The Open Range"

"War Bridle" by Frederic Remington

"Stampede"

If you live in Denver and you still haven't checked out the recently reopened 7th floor of the Denver Art Museum you're missing out. It is dedicated to Western art - a genre I've really begun to appreciate since moving West. I shot photos of these three pieces on my visit Tuesday.

While I don't always relate to the subject matter in a lot of Western painting, many of the artists are exceptional painters - especially in their ability to capture different atmospheric and lighting conditions. Take these three for instance;

• "The Open Range" displays the clear, often blinding sun that is typical of the West. If you look carefully you'll notice that there are no real dark color values- even the shadows on the ground are bleached by the sun.
  
• Remington's pieces also portrays a high-noon sun gleaming against the backs of the two white shirted cowboys.
• The "Stampede" on the other hand carefully composes the work with more detail in the foreground and soft, looser brush-strokes in the background - adding to the action and the depth of the image. It is almost entirely monochrome and his handling of subtle value variations is amazing.

Painting of the Day

Frederic Remington, Moonlight, Wolf, oil on canvas, C.1909

A new favorite at the Denver Art Museum

Frederic Remington, The War Bridle, 1909

This is one of my new favorites in the recently-opened 7th floor at the Denver Art Museum. The painting captures a brilliant noon-day light so well you almost squint. It's much more radiant than this digital image, that's for sure. I found this scan and its source photo at the War Bridle Project (of course).

Artists Studios

I think you can tell a lot about an artists by their studio - things they find attractive, their resources, and even a little about their personalities. It may be no surprise then that Remington's studio is filled with western artifacts and Vija Celmins has a spare, white studio. I recently relocated my own studio from the dining room to the kitchen nook which is a bit of a downsize but adequate. I did a post awhile ago about several of my studio manifestations here.

Frederic Remington's studio installed in the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, WY
- image via red ravine

Josh Keyes studio (via Fecal Face)

Vija Celmin's studio

Sigmar Polke's studio

Carla Klein's studio

Accompaniment

I was researching the work of Giulio Aristide Sartorio - a painter I remembered from a trip to Italy some years ago, when I came across a series of war paintings of his that are fantastic. I paired excerpts form the series with aesthetically similar paintings or painters. I'm not meaning to imply one painter looked at the other painter, but it is always interesting to me to see similarities between artists. Unfortunately, the page on which I found these works by Sartorio is written in Italian so I do not translated titles - the series is from 1917-1918.

Giulio Aristide Sartorio, "Attacco aereo di Venezia" ("Air Attack of Venice"), 1917-1918
"Buildings Lancaster", 1930, by Charles Demuth (Source: Wiki Commons), Oil on board, 24 x 20 in
Giulio Aristide Sartorio, "Bombardamento di Quota" ("Bombing of Quota"), 1917-1918
George Bellows, "A Morning Snow: Hudson River", 1910 (Source: Wiki Commons)

Giulio Aristide Sartorio, "L'isola di Fagarè" ("The Island of Fagare"?), 1917-1918James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Harmony in blue and silver: Trouville (1865)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Giulio Aristide Sartorio,"Gli Austriaci ripassano il Piave" (The Australians Crossing the Piave"), 1917-1918 Frederic Remington (American, 1861–1909), "The Scout: Friends or Foes", 1902–5,
Oil on canvas; 27 x 40 in. from the Met Museum

translations by the talented Patti Hallock

Inspiration: Remington's Nocturnes

Frederic S. Remington (1861–1909) "The Old Stage-Coach of the Plains", 1901, Oil on canvas, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas



I've been digging into Frederic Remington's nocturne/night paintings again recently. I had the great fortune to see an entire exhibition of his night time paintings a few years ago. His use of color in this series is fascinating - unusual blue-greens, subtle golden-taupe-greens, and vibrant blues - frequently contrasted with the rich oranges of candle or firelight. I highly recommend the book devoted to these works called "Frederic Remington: The Color of Night" by Nancy Anderson. Even if western art isn't your subject matter of choice, I think there is a lot to be learned from the palette of Remington. The more I flip through this book, the more intrigued I've become with these paintings. My next body of work for the exhibition in June will surely be influenced by Remington's coloring.