Lot Essay
Frederic Remington used his 1889 painting A Dash for the Timber (Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas) as the direct source for this complex bronze. The painting depicts a line of eight cavalrymen racing for the trees away from a band of marauding indians. The two figures adapted for the bronze are the second and third figures at the left of the canvas.
Nine months after producing The Bronco Buster, the artist's first effort at sculpture, Remington copyrighted his second bronze, The Wounded Bunkie. This work was not only a more sophisticated subject, but a technical tour-de-force. In Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, Michael Shapiro describes the model, "The sense of danger and of drama in this work far exceeds that of The Bronco Buster, and compositionally it is more sophisticated, for the entire sculpture is supported by only two of the horses' eight legs. Confronted by the direct gaze of one cavalryman and the silhoutted head of the other, the viewer is drawn to contrast the position of human heads with the poses of the horses's heads. The effect of the overlapping forms is cinematic, as if the event were unfolding before our eyes. More decisively than The Bronco Buster, The Wounded Bunkie initiated a series of kinetic effects that Remington continued to refine and develop throughout his career as a sculptor. None of the later works, however, would have as clean a line or as fine a soft brown patina as this magnificent sand-cast group." (M.E. Shapiro & P. Hasrick, pp. 191-192)
The Wounded Bunkie is one of only four models cast by the Henry- Bonnard Company before Remington transfered his allegiance to Roman Bronze Works who utilized the lost-wax method of casting bronzes. Uniquely, The Wounded Bunkie is the only one of Remington's models which was produced solely by the Henry-Bonnard foundry. The other three models cast by Henry-Bonnard (The Bronco Buster, The Wicked Pony and The Scalp) were later reworked and cast by Roman Bronze Works with the lost-wax method. Due to the requirements of sand casting, the canteens, reins, sabers, stirrups, bed-rolls and the skull on the base have all been cast separately and pinned on to the bronze.
The present exceptionally fine model of The Wounded Bunkie, cast no. B, is a recently discovered example of this rare bronze. It is being sold with the results of an x-radiograph made of the interiors of the figures by William L. Hickman, Conservator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Nine months after producing The Bronco Buster, the artist's first effort at sculpture, Remington copyrighted his second bronze, The Wounded Bunkie. This work was not only a more sophisticated subject, but a technical tour-de-force. In Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, Michael Shapiro describes the model, "The sense of danger and of drama in this work far exceeds that of The Bronco Buster, and compositionally it is more sophisticated, for the entire sculpture is supported by only two of the horses' eight legs. Confronted by the direct gaze of one cavalryman and the silhoutted head of the other, the viewer is drawn to contrast the position of human heads with the poses of the horses's heads. The effect of the overlapping forms is cinematic, as if the event were unfolding before our eyes. More decisively than The Bronco Buster, The Wounded Bunkie initiated a series of kinetic effects that Remington continued to refine and develop throughout his career as a sculptor. None of the later works, however, would have as clean a line or as fine a soft brown patina as this magnificent sand-cast group." (M.E. Shapiro & P. Hasrick, pp. 191-192)
The Wounded Bunkie is one of only four models cast by the Henry- Bonnard Company before Remington transfered his allegiance to Roman Bronze Works who utilized the lost-wax method of casting bronzes. Uniquely, The Wounded Bunkie is the only one of Remington's models which was produced solely by the Henry-Bonnard foundry. The other three models cast by Henry-Bonnard (The Bronco Buster, The Wicked Pony and The Scalp) were later reworked and cast by Roman Bronze Works with the lost-wax method. Due to the requirements of sand casting, the canteens, reins, sabers, stirrups, bed-rolls and the skull on the base have all been cast separately and pinned on to the bronze.
The present exceptionally fine model of The Wounded Bunkie, cast no. B, is a recently discovered example of this rare bronze. It is being sold with the results of an x-radiograph made of the interiors of the figures by William L. Hickman, Conservator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.