Dramatic Moments presents an outstanding collection of 38 Harper’s Weekly engravings by American artist, Frederic Remington (1861-1909). These are the images which launched Remington’s illustration career, and provided the platform from which he evolved into one of the West’s most famous fine art painters. The images not only chronicle the convulsive events in the closing decades of the western frontier era, but reveal Remington’s emergence as an expert narrative artist, for he wished his images to portray people and their role in the pageant of history.
The Remington wood-block engravings of this exhibit–especially the double-page images–are exemplary models of the wood-block engraving art of the late nineteenth century, with their dramatic contrast and subtle exercise of mid-tones. Subsequent technological evolution into half-tone reproduction of paintings is also well illustrated in this exhibit. Finally, Remington’s consummate skill in rendering the horse in motion is prominently demonstrated. In sum, this extensive body of Frederic Remington’s early art forms is a testament to his emergent skill and creative imagination, traits which quickly elevated him above and beyond his contemporaries.
This exhibit is curated by Lee Silliman
