Remington

Frederic Remington (1861-1909) was one of the last American artists to offer his contemporaries a vision of the American Old West, that wild terrain with its immense prairies, herds of bison and the last American Indians. A painter, but above all an illustrator popular in his time, Remington skilfully captivated the public’s attention by presenting a realistic view of this primitive way of life on the brink of submitting to invading civilisation. Authentically capturing its roughness, force and also its colours, Remington quickly became the representative of American painting in the eyes of the world. Though he mainly concentrated on the attitudes of his characters and animals and not on his landscapes, his photographic style, with a nearly impressionist touch, renewed a genre and lent an added realism to his subjects. Painter and sculptor, Remington also knew how to sculpturally express the ardour of these strong men and wild animals battling with the evolution of a new continent. The galloping horse,still recognized today as his signature subject, magnificently illustrates the power of freedomemanating from these masterpieces.