Beschreibung:

Frederic Remington (1861-1909)The Bronco Buster inscribed 'Copyright by / Frederic Remington' and stamped with foundry mark 'ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N-Y-' (on the base), inscribed 'No 227' (beneath the base) bronze with brown patina 24 in. high Modeled in 1895, cast circa 1911.FootnotesLiterature Harold McCracken, Frederic Remington Artist of the Old West, New York, 1947, no page number, pl. 41, another example illustrated. Peter Hassrick, Frederic Remington Fort Worth, Texas, 1973, p. 33, no. 53, another example illustrated. Michael E. Shapiro, Cast and Recast: The Sculpture of Frederic Remington exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1981, pp. 63-69, another example illustrated. Michael E. Shapiro, Peter Hassrick, Frederic Remington The Masterworks, New York, 1988, p. 172, pls. 47-48, another example illustrated. James Ballinger, Frederic Remington New York, 1989, p. 74, another example illustrated. Michael D. Greenbaum, Icons of the West: Frederic Remington's Sculpture, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, pp. 51-64, 178, another example illustrated. Frederic Remington had worked as an accomplished illustrator for nearly a decade before attempting to work in the bronze medium. In late 1894, Remington was encouraged by two friends, the Franco-American sculptor Frederick Ruckstull and the playwright Augustus Thomas, to transform an earlier illustration of a bucking broncho into a three-dimensional wax model. Ruckstull, who was working on a monumental equestrian statue commission for the Pennsylvania State Capitol, provided all the tools to Remington and encouraged him to try and trust in his innate ability. Thomas also recognized a "sculptor's degree of vision" in Remington's drawings and further encouraged him. 1 In modeling Broncho Buster, Remington encountered a complex technical challenge of how to support the horse's hind legs without a post due to its elevated and displaced center of gravity. To keep the feeling of weightlessness, he resolved the problem by increasing the armature, a technique he learned from observing Ruckstull at work. 2 Modeled in 1895, Broncho Buster was Remington's first sculpture and, to this day, remains arguably his most famous. The dynamic image of a cowboy breaking a wild horse was a radical re-interpretation of the equestrian statue form, and it captured the imagination of the popular press in his day. Remington was lauded for his attempt in a new medium as well as his technical skill by Harper's Weekly and The New York Times, who noted, "Now that he has started in another direction, and begun so promisingly, his career will be remarked with still greater interest and subsequent work of this kind will be watched for eagerly." 3 Remington modeled twenty-one subsequent sculptures in his lifetime, producing work with profound dynamism and contrapposto. The Broncho Buster, however, remains an iconic American Western form full of originality and raw expression. 1 Michael D. Greenbaum, Icons of the West: Frederic Remington's Sculpture, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, 14. 2 Ibid, 14. 3 Ibid, 51.Saleroom noticesPlease note that the present work was cast circa 1918-1921.