Frederic Remington (1861-1909), "Mountain Man", bronze, 41 x 22 x 19"

Provenance: A Spring Branch, Texas collection

Frederic Remington was born in Canton, New York, where his father was a newspaper publisher. As a boy he sketched the horses, Indians, cowboys and soldiers he dreamed about. When he was seventeen, he was one of the first two students to enter the Yale University Art School. In 1880 Remington's father died and the ensuing inheritance prompted him to leave school. He worked briefly at several office jobs, but soon grew restless and headed west  to find his "Pot of Gold". He spent time working as a cowboy and sheep rancher, prospecting for gold and fighting as a soldier against the renegade Sioux. He studied and sketched the land around him with almost photographic eyes. His subjects were of prime importance, and his heroes were the everyday people of the frontier. He insisted on realism in every detail. He took a serious interest in art, entering the Art Students League to improve his technique. Success did not come quickly, but by the early 1890s his paintings began to win prizes and he became in great demand as a magazine and book illustrator. In 1895 his first sculpture, "Bronco Buster", won instant acclaim. After achieving both wealth and notoriety, Remington moved to a Connecticut farm, where he established a library and art gallery and surrounded himself with his Western artifacts and memorabilia. He died suddenly from an attack of appendicitis at the age of forty-eight.