Good evening to all and welcome to this third edition of Wild West Art! Who says you have to cross the country to get a chance to see the most beautiful works of art of our time? Tell the Smithsonian Institution to behave, today I open the doors of my private wonder room: it is the painting that comes to you!

An exhibition in the Wild West?
Museums as we know them did not yet exist in the 19th century in the American West. However, there were many alternatives that allowed people to open up their knowledge and touch the world of contemporary culture.
Between the cabinets of curiosities run by the artists themselves or by collectors, the improvised galleries or the "curio shows," there was always something to keep busy.

Room 1: Painted Nations
In the early 1800s, the United States expanded its territories and conquered western lands. The landscape is then still raw, but mostly inhabited by the native peoples.
Artists then specialized in the depiction of the habits and customs of Native Americans and this category included the well-known George Catlin, with his work "Buffalo Chase with Bow and Lances, 1832."

Buffalo Chase with Bow and Lances, 1832

Others will prefer quieter scenes, representing a peaceful and sometimes forgotten daily life. This can be seen in the work of Alfred Jacob Miller, including the watercolor entitled "Indian Encampment, 1860."

Indian Encampment, 1860

However, no one should ignore the violence that has flowed from colonization, and it is to denounce these barbaric acts that Howling Wolf, a Cheyenne survivor, created a powerful work: "Massacre of the Cheyenne Indians at Sand Creek, 1875." It's not a painting on canvas but I would make an exception because it deserves its place in our exhibition!

Massacre of the Cheyenne Indians at Sand Creek, 1875

Second Room: Westerners Chaos
Europeans have settled and the landscape of the American West is changing over generations and technological advances. But the Gold Rush of 1848 marked a demographic boom, and the region became a place of rapid development that institutions had no time to settle there. Without faith or law, the Wild West becomes the playground of the cowboys, the refuge of the outlaws, the gold mine of the pioneers.
Charles Marion Russell's painting "In Without Knocking, 1909" speaks for itself.

In Without Knocking, 1909

We can also mention the great Frederic Remington whose work "A Dash for the Timber, 1889" represents the chaos that could be encountered in the Wild West.

A Dash for the Timber, 1889

Third Room: Blank Canvas
We end our little exhibition with a return to calm, a reminder that before the Cowboys, before the Totem Bearers and even before the Men, there was nature.
Albert Bierstadt captured all the magnificence of the American West landscapes, creating an almost idyllic atmosphere that can be found in several of his works such as "Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 1886."

Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 1886