Frederic Remington Paintings - Sid Richardson Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Kimberly and I visited the Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, this week. The museum is currently featuring the exhibit "Another Frontier: Frederic Remington's East," which gave us an opportunity to see some of Frederic Remington's early and later paintings side by side. It's always eye opening to see how even the greatest of painters evolve during their careers.

All photos by Saunders Fine Arts.

Frederic Remington "The End of the Day" • 1904 • Oil on Canvas

This piece shows Remington at the height of his skills. The masterful design prioritizes the pattern of light and darks over the individual elements. The darks are painted thinly and most likely as one mass, while the elements are all defined by the lighter paint. The focal point is clearly the horses, while the most intense node of color - the brightly lit windows in the background - serves only to add depth and entice us to explore the rest of the painting.

The atmospheric snow effect was added through a combination of scumbled paint - lightly dragging a brush across the surface of the canvas - and carefully added dots of paint representing more defined snowflakes.

Frederic Remington "The End of the Day" Detail • 1904 • Oil on Canvas

You can see in the detail photo that the edges of elements in the dark areas are mostly nonexistent. Remington used the lighter paint to render the forms and let the darker edges become completely lost. 

Frederic Remington "The End of the Day" Detail • 1904 • Oil on Canvas

Notice how thin the paint is in the third detail photo. This allowed Remington to gently drag a brush charged with lighter paint across the canvas, leaving behind small bits of paint captured by the canvas texture to create the atmospheric snow effect.
 

Frederic Remington "A Taint on the Wind" • 1906 • Oil on Canvas

 Another masterpiece where only the elements important to the composition and story stand out. It's all about the reaction of the horses, so the riders atop the coach are simply hinted at.

The lanterns serve the same purpose as the lit windows in "The End of the Day," inviting us to explore the rest of the composition without taking away the importance of the foreground horses.

Frederic Remington "River Drivers in the Spring Break Up" • 1905 • Oil on Canvas

Another later Remington showing his ability to capture atmospheric qualities. Most of the painting is very thinly painted with soft edges and muted colors that enhance both the depth and the illusion of fog.

Frederic Remington "River Drivers in the Spring Break Up" Detail • 1905 • Oil on Canvas

The difference in handling of the foreground figure vs. the background figure enhance both the depth and the atmospheric quality.

Frederic Remington "River Drivers in the Spring Break Up" • 1905 • Oil on Canvas

The thickest paint and the most intense color - although still somewhat muted - are in the ice sheets in the foreground, further enhancing the depth in the painting.

Frederic Remington "Buffalo Runners - Big Horn Basin" • 1909 • Oil on Canvas

This piece was created in the last year of Remington's life, and clearly shows the confidence that comes from years of practice. Some of the elements - like the expression on the center horse - we have seen before in other Remington works.

Frederic Remington "Buffalo Runners - Big Horn Basin" Detail • 1909 • Oil on Canvas

The intense expression of the horses became a very common theme in Remington's work.

Frederic Remington "Buffalo Runners - Big Horn Basin" Detail • 1909 • Oil on Canvas

The background figures and horses are just barely there - dashed off bits of color that suggest form and movement without drawing our attention away from the central figure.

Frederic Remington "Small Oaks" • 1887 • Oil on Canvas

By contrast, here is a piece from early in Remington's career. It's a beautiful piece, but lacks the clear design sense and has far more detail than his later works. For me, it has the feel of a Winslow Homer. 

Frederic Remington "Pontiac Club" • 1909 • Oil on Canvas

This is another painting created at the end of Remington's life, but is far different from his well-known western work.

It's clearly a plein air work, and benefits from his years learning which elements are necessary in a painting. There's not a gratuitous brush stroke in the entire piece. It's simple, elegant and sublime, without the need to tell a dramatic story, as most of his more famous works do.


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