Amon Carter Museum presents Prints of the American West, 1820-1970

Written by Rick Stewart Friday, 03 September 2010 21:47

FORT WORTH, TX.- The Amon Carter Museum presents Views and Visions: Prints of the American West, 1820–1970. The exhibition, on view through January 10, 2010, showcases approximately 120 prints and illustrated books from the museum’s permanent collection. Admission is free. American artists saw and experienced the western frontier in different ways and with varied perspectives. This exhibition features prints from the past two centuries, representing a myriad views and visions of the American West.

"While the works will be arranged by subjects familiar to the viewer—nature, wildlife, native peoples and non-native settlement—they will reflect broader aspects,"” says Rick Stewart, the Carter’s senior curator of western paintings and sculpture and curator of Views and Visions.

"One of the most interesting features in the exhibition will be the juxtaposition of particular works,"” Stewart continues, "sometimes made more than a century apart, that will show curious similarities or intriguing differences in artistic vision."”

Included in the exhibition are the first eyewitness renderings of Yosemite Valley, the summit of the Sierra Nevada and the iconic Mountain of the Holy Cross. From these early landscapes and portraits of western denizens, the show progresses deep into the 20th century with works by Leonard Baskin, Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood.

"As this exhibition will show, some American artists viewed the West in its mythic enlargement," says Stewart, "while others attempted to infuse their mythic visions with a harsher reality. Yet even today, the appeal of the mythic vision of the American West remains widespread."”

Amon G. Carter, a legendary figure in Texas history, was for most of his life Fort Worth’s leading citizen and champion. Mr. Carter’s will provided for the establishment of a museum in Fort Worth devoted to American art. “As a youth, I was denied the advantages which go with the possession of money,” he stated in the will. “I am endeavoring to give to those who have not had such advantages, but who aspire to the higher and finer attributes of life, those opportunities which were denied to me.”

The Amon Carter Museum was established through the generosity of Amon G. Carter Sr. (1879–1955) to house his collection of paintings and sculpture by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell; to collect, preserve, and exhibit the finest examples of American art; and to serve an educational role through exhibitions, publications, and programs devoted to the study of American art. Visit : http://www.cartermuseum.org/

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