Frederic Remington

Frederic Remington is an American artist who is best known for his depictions of life in the American West. Remington shunned landscapes in favor of animals and people, with many of his works capturing the lives of cowboys, trappers, hunters, soldiers, and Native Americans. Remington often painted in the impressionist style, and while his works were naturalistic, they rarely, if ever, showed nature dominating over man. One extremely notable achievement of Remington’s was that he was one of the the first artists to correctly portray the gait of a horse in motion. This development was so influential that it became the standard for how galloping horses should be painted and was copied by many other artists.

Frederic Remington was born in Canton, New York in 1861. From an early age, Remington showed interest in the fine arts. He had his first formal art instruction at a church-run military school when he was 11 and was later accepted to Yale University’s art institution. After attending college for a few years, Remington dropped out to pursue an ambition of being a rancher out west. However, he soon found he wasn’t suited to the ranching lifestyle and went back to New York, but not before gaining an appreciation for western America. After working at home for a brief time, he was able to return to Kansas City where he slowly began to build a career in art.

Once Remington had established himself as a capable and talented artist, he began to receive commissions to paint from bigger companies. Some of his early jobs include work for Harper’s Weekly, who he would have a long relationship with, and Outing magazine. Later, he was commissioned to complete a series of 83 illustrations for a book by Theodore Roosevelt. In addition to his work for publications, Remington also completed many pieces which he sold privately. The combination of these two ventures provided him with a good income. Remington’s career also provided him the opportunity to travel. He visited many of the states and made multiple trips to Mexico, where he captured the activities of the locals through his paintbrush. Remington continued to work and paint until his death in 1909.