Frederic Remington

An East Coast native, Frederic Remington was born in Canton, New York, in 1861 and studied art at Yale University from 1878 to 1879. He traveled west to Montana Territory in 1881, and tried his hand at sheep ranching in Kansas in 1883. Although he failed at sheep ranching, his sketches of the West soon began appearing regularly in national magazines such as Harper’s Weekly and Scribner’s. In addition to being a prolific painter and sculptor, the artist was also a writer. By the time of his death in 1909 at age 48 he had written two novels, several short stories, and hundreds of magazine articles. While he began in illustration, Remington made a concerted effort to be recognized as a fine artist, exhibiting paintings with the National Academy of Design, and casting sculptures in bronze starting in 1895. Although he always made his home in the East, Remington traveled to the West regularly to make new sketches for his work. His images of the western United States played a major role in shaping perceptions of the myth of the West in the American imagination.