Frederic Remington

Frederic Remington was an American Western artist specializing in scenes of horses, military and the western frontier. In Canton, New York on October 4, 1861, Remington was born into a middle class family and became one of the first students to attend Yale University’s new School of Art. Unfortunately, his father passed away when he was 19 causing Remington to drop out of school. He tried different business ventures, though never found much success until he decided to dedicate himself to his art. A small inheritance from his father’s death enabled him to indulge himself solely in his drawing. As a young artist, his paintings followed the “high arts”, or the mainstream high-class preferences, but as his skills grew and his scope widened, he developed an interest in the Western Frontier. In 1884, Remington sold his first sketch, which gave him the confidence he needed to paint more freely. It was in the same year that he married Eva Adele Caten. The young couple purchased a ranch in Kansas City where they lived for a short time. He spent his time traveling his newly acquired land, sketching the wild, western frontier and its inhabitants. They returned to Brooklyn and in 1886, he published his first fully credited pictures in Harper’s Weekly.

Throughout his career, Frederic Remington focused greatly on the U.S. Calvary, cowboys and Native Americans. He continued to travel throughout his career, visiting the western frontier and returning to his New York studio to paint from memory with exquisite detail. He prided himself on his attention to details, especially in regards to the depictions of the horses and the cattle rustlers in which he claimed “Cowboys are my cash.” Prior to his death from a ruptured appendix in 1909, Frederic Remington created over 2700 drawings and paintings as well as published illustrations in 142 books and 42 magazines.