The Art of the Golden West

Book excerpt: This pictorial history of frontier towns, cowboys, Indians, and breathtaking natural beauty is a tribute to the rugged breed of artists who tamed the Old West on canvas. Shortly after the 1803-1806 expedition of Lewis and Clark, George Catlin was one of the first artists to journey to see the new land. He was followed over time by Karl Bodmer, Thomas Moran, Alfred Bierstadt, and George Caleb Bingham who traveled west to record the wild, unsettled vistas beyond the Mississippi. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell began their work, completing the artistic documentation of the Golden West. This volume reveals the lives and spirits of these artists whose work is represented by 106 full-color reproductions.