Remington, Frederic (1861-1909)

US artist and illustrator. He is known for his lively paintings, sculptures, and sketches of the American West, which he recorded during several trips to the region. In his detailed, rugged bronzes, he focused on movement to depict the vigorous, energy of cowboys, American Indians, and horses. Examples of Remington's work include Bronco Buster (1895) and Comin' Through the Rye (1902). Through his art, and his articles and stories, he created a mythic and enduring image of the West.

As a young man Remington lived in the East but travelled widely throughout the West, selling his illustrations of life on the Great Plains to magazines. He became known for his dramatic depictions of cowboys, American Indians, and horses, and his ability to reproduce the vistas of the western landscape. His focus was on the stoic, brave heroes of the frontier, and he was responsible for many popular romantic images. In the mid 1890s he began to sculpt and went on to create 22 bronzes, such as The Outlaw (1906; Los Angeles County Museum of Art), noted for their fine detail and enormous sense of movement and action.

Born in Canton, New York, Remington trained at the Yale School of Fine Arts in New Haven, Connecticut, and at the Art Students League in New York City. He illustrated for Harper publications and other periodicals, and for Theodore Roosevelt's Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail (1888), and Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha (1891). Remington wrote and illustrated Pony Tracks (1895), Crooked Trails (1898), and John Ermine of Yellowstone (1902). He travelled to Cuba as a war correspondent for the Hearst newspaper syndicate during the Spanish-American War in 1898, after which he went home to paint and sculpt. The Remington Museum was established in Ogdensburg, New York, near his family's home.