The Snow Trail (1909)

Frederic Remington prints bring the cowboys, cavalry troopers, scouts and horses of the American West onto your walls. Remington was the most successful Western illustrator of his day, and his paintings, drawings and bronzes shaped how the world pictured the Old West. Our collection of fine art prints includes his Harper's Weekly illustrations, action scenes, late moonlit nocturnes and studies.

About Frederic Remington

Frederic Sackrider Remington was born in Canton, New York, on 4 October 1861. His father was a Union cavalry colonel and newspaper editor, and the family were keen horsemen. A poor student but an eager sketcher of soldiers and cowboys, he studied at the Yale art school, where he preferred football and boxing to drawing from plaster casts.

After his father's death he went west in 1881, trying ranching in Kansas and business in Kansas City, before deciding art was his real profession. He studied at the Art Students League in New York, and in 1886 Harper's Weekly sent him to Arizona to cover the campaign against Geronimo. Commissions poured in, including eighty-three illustrations for Theodore Roosevelt's Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail.

In 1895 he made his first bronze, The Bronco Buster, which Roosevelt's Rough Riders later presented to their colonel. He covered the war in Cuba in 1898, and from 1901 worked steadily for Collier's. In his last years in Ridgefield, Connecticut, he moved toward Impressionism and painted many night scenes. He died on 26 December 1909 after an emergency appendectomy, aged 48.

Style and Subjects

Remington's art is about action: horses at full gallop, troopers under fire, cowboys roping, scouts on the lookout. He drew horses with great accuracy and caught motion and tension in a single moment.

His early illustrations are detailed and descriptive. Later paintings are broader and more atmospheric, and his final nocturnes, lit by moonlight or firelight in cool greens and blues, are among his most admired works.

Famous Works

• A Dash for the Timber (1889), Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth. Cowboys gallop for cover with riders in pursuit, one of his best-known action scenes.
• The Advance-Guard, or The Military Sacrifice (1890), Art Institute of Chicago. A cavalry scout ambushed ahead of his column.
• The Bronco Buster (1895). His first and most famous bronze, a cowboy clinging to a rearing horse.
• Pony Tracks in the Buffalo Trails (1895), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. An illustration from his book of Western sketches.
• The Mier Expedition: The Drawing of the Black Bean (1896), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Texan prisoners draw beans to decide who will be shot.
• Fired On (1907), Smithsonian American Art Museum. A night scene of cavalrymen startled by gunfire at a river crossing.
• The Blanket Signal (1909), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A rider signals with a blanket from a hilltop, painted in his last year.

Decorating with Remington Prints

Remington's Western scenes suit dens, studies, offices and rustic rooms with leather, wood and stone. A big action picture such as A Dash for the Timber anchors a living room or lodge, while The Stampede adds drama to a hallway.

His moonlit nocturnes have a quieter, more atmospheric feel that works well in a bedroom or library. The black-and-white illustrations make a handsome gallery wall in simple frames.

FAQ

What is Frederic Remington known for?

Remington is known for paintings, illustrations and bronzes of the American West, especially cowboys, cavalry, Native Americans and horses, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

What is Remington's most famous sculpture?

The Bronco Buster (1895), his first bronze, is his most famous. Roosevelt's Rough Riders presented a cast to Theodore Roosevelt in 1898.

Did Frederic Remington know Theodore Roosevelt?

Yes. He made eighty-three illustrations for Roosevelt's Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail and stayed in contact with him for years.

What are Remington's nocturnes?

In his later years he painted many night scenes lit by moonlight or firelight, in soft greens and blues. They show his move toward Impressionism.

Where can I see Remington's work?

Works are in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Art Institute of Chicago. His Ridgefield house is a National Historic Landmark.

Related Artists

• Charles Marion Russell: Western artist counted in his lifetime among the "School of Remington"
• Charles Schreyvogel: Western painter counted among the "School of Remington"
• Frank Tenney Johnson: relative and Western painter, "father of western moonlight painting"
• George Catlin: relative and painter of Native American portraits