Remington, Frederic

Remington, Frederic,

1861–1909, American painter, sculptor, illustrator, and writer, b. Canton, N.Y., studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts and the Art Students League. His subjects, drawn largely from his life on the Western plains, are chiefly horses, soldiers, Native Americans, and cowboys, each modeled or painted with sympathetic understanding and usually in spirited action. His paintings are exciting and accurate portrayals of the West and have been extensively reproduced in color prints. Replicas of his 23 bronzes appear in many museums and private collections. Remington was war correspondent for the Hearst papers in the Spanish-American War. An indefatigable worker, he completed more than 2,700 paintings and drawings, including illustrations for Century magazine, Collier's Weekly, Harper publications, and other periodicals. He wrote Pony Tracks (1895), Crooked Trails (1898), John Ermine of Yellowstone (1902), and other books. There is a Remington Art Memorial Museum at Ogdenburg, N.Y.

Bibliography

See catalog by M. Jackson (1970); A. P. and M. D. Splete, ed., Frederic Remington: Selected Letters (1987); biography by P. and H. Samuels (1985); A. Manley and M. M. Magnum, Frederic Remington and the North Country (1988).

Remington, Frederic (Sackrider)

(1861–1909) painter, sculptor, illustrator; born in Canton, N.Y. He studied at the Yale Art School (1878–79) and the Art Students League, New York (c. 1885). He moved west (1880) and became a cowboy and rancher. Offered a commission to illustrate Geronimo's Apache campaign for Harper's Weekly (1882), he began his career as a painter of the American West. Traveling frequently, he was based in New Rochelle, New York, from 1886. He recorded the Indian Wars of 1890–91, created his first bronze sculpture, Bronco Buster (1895), and was a correspondent during the Spanish-American War (1898). He painted nearly 3,000 oils and made 15 bronze sculptures, capturing both his subject matter and the imagination of the public. He also wrote and illustrated several books that recounted his adventures.