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Lot Essay
Remington's first bronze sculpture, The Bronco Buster remains today one of the most popular and enduring images of the American West. Conceived in 1895, The Bronco Buster is an iconic image of the Western frontier, depicting the heroism of a lone cowboy breaking in a wild horse; an emblem of the peril and drama of late nineteenth-century America.
After briefly attending the Yale College School of Art, the young Remington made his first trip to the West in the summer of 1881. The following year marked the beginning of his professional career as he began submitting illustrations to Harper's Weekly. In 1883 in a desire to experience the West firsthand, Remington purchased a sheep ranch near Peabody, Kansas, which in turn spurred a move to Kansas City in 1884 with his new bride, Eva Caten. Though financial troubles forced the couple's return to New York within a year, Remington continued to make frequent trips to the south and northwest where he drew material and artistic inspiration for years to come.
By the 1890's Remington was a renowned illustrator, painter, and writer. Never complacent as an artist, he decided to expand his repetoire of talent to include something "in the round as well as the flat." Applying his considerable artistic skill and a bit of technical advice from his peers, Remington produced The Bronco Buster in 1895. Copyrighted by the artist as "a cow-boy mounted upon and breaking in a wild horse," the twenty-four inch sculpture was the first western action bronze of its kind. (M.D. Greenbaum, The Icons of the West, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, p. 51)
The work was a tremendous success as critics immediately applauded its power and dramatic visual impact. One critic wrote of The Bronco Buster in the October 19, 1895 issue of Harper's Weekly that "The serious fight between man and animal is given with a realism and intensity that comes from profound knoweldge. Mr. Remington has handled his clay in a masterly way, with great freedom and a certainty of touch, and in a manner to call forth the surprise and admiration not only of his fellow craftsman, but of sculptors as well." (as quoted in R. Stewart, Frederic Remington, Masterpieces from the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 1992, p. 24) A critic for Century Magazine published photographs of the sculpture from four angles "to underscore its revolutionary cantilevered composition; Remington's understanding of balance and form had left nearly every American and European sculptor flat-footed. The accompanying article noted the tensile strength of the frozen motion, which 'suggests the power of a tightly coiled spring, ready to snap forward.' Remington himself was quoted as saying that sculpture 'was a great art and satisfying to me, for my whole feeling is for form.'" (as quoted in Frederic Remington, Masterpieces from the Amon Carter Museum, p. 24)
The present work is one of the original sixty-four largely identical sand castings of The Bronco Buster produced by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Co. between 1895 and 1900. The sand casting method produced superior quality results that were as finely detailed and dramatic as the artist's original clay mold. "As much as The Broncho Buster was a keen study in balance and technique, it was also an accomplishment in detail. A brand on the horse's left hind quarter, a triangle inside a circle, appears on all castings, and the cowboy's quirt is perpendicular to the base. The horse's eyes are hollow and the rider's right stirrup loose. All the castings in the edition were assembled from ten individually cast pieces, which the foundrymen brazed, filed, and hand finished. The castings were then finished in a rich, light brown patina." (Icons of the West, p. 51)
An enormous success both technically and visually, The Bronco Buster symbolized all that was triumphant and heroic of the West. It is a true icon that remains today one of the most enduring images of America's Western frontier.
After briefly attending the Yale College School of Art, the young Remington made his first trip to the West in the summer of 1881. The following year marked the beginning of his professional career as he began submitting illustrations to Harper's Weekly. In 1883 in a desire to experience the West firsthand, Remington purchased a sheep ranch near Peabody, Kansas, which in turn spurred a move to Kansas City in 1884 with his new bride, Eva Caten. Though financial troubles forced the couple's return to New York within a year, Remington continued to make frequent trips to the south and northwest where he drew material and artistic inspiration for years to come.
By the 1890's Remington was a renowned illustrator, painter, and writer. Never complacent as an artist, he decided to expand his repetoire of talent to include something "in the round as well as the flat." Applying his considerable artistic skill and a bit of technical advice from his peers, Remington produced The Bronco Buster in 1895. Copyrighted by the artist as "a cow-boy mounted upon and breaking in a wild horse," the twenty-four inch sculpture was the first western action bronze of its kind. (M.D. Greenbaum, The Icons of the West, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, p. 51)
The work was a tremendous success as critics immediately applauded its power and dramatic visual impact. One critic wrote of The Bronco Buster in the October 19, 1895 issue of Harper's Weekly that "The serious fight between man and animal is given with a realism and intensity that comes from profound knoweldge. Mr. Remington has handled his clay in a masterly way, with great freedom and a certainty of touch, and in a manner to call forth the surprise and admiration not only of his fellow craftsman, but of sculptors as well." (as quoted in R. Stewart, Frederic Remington, Masterpieces from the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 1992, p. 24) A critic for Century Magazine published photographs of the sculpture from four angles "to underscore its revolutionary cantilevered composition; Remington's understanding of balance and form had left nearly every American and European sculptor flat-footed. The accompanying article noted the tensile strength of the frozen motion, which 'suggests the power of a tightly coiled spring, ready to snap forward.' Remington himself was quoted as saying that sculpture 'was a great art and satisfying to me, for my whole feeling is for form.'" (as quoted in Frederic Remington, Masterpieces from the Amon Carter Museum, p. 24)
The present work is one of the original sixty-four largely identical sand castings of The Bronco Buster produced by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Co. between 1895 and 1900. The sand casting method produced superior quality results that were as finely detailed and dramatic as the artist's original clay mold. "As much as The Broncho Buster was a keen study in balance and technique, it was also an accomplishment in detail. A brand on the horse's left hind quarter, a triangle inside a circle, appears on all castings, and the cowboy's quirt is perpendicular to the base. The horse's eyes are hollow and the rider's right stirrup loose. All the castings in the edition were assembled from ten individually cast pieces, which the foundrymen brazed, filed, and hand finished. The castings were then finished in a rich, light brown patina." (Icons of the West, p. 51)
An enormous success both technically and visually, The Bronco Buster symbolized all that was triumphant and heroic of the West. It is a true icon that remains today one of the most enduring images of America's Western frontier.