Indians Simulating Buffalo
Artist: Frederic Remington (American, 1861-1909)
Date: 1908
Dimensions:
Painting: 27 × 40 in. (68.6 × 101.6 cm)
Frame: 35 3/4 × 48 3/4 × 3 1/2 in. (90.8 × 123.8 × 8.9 cm)
Medium: oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Florence Scott Libbey
Object number: 1912.1
Label Text:An exchange of glances is the focal point of Frederic Remington’s intriguing scene. Bent over their grazing ponies with bison skins thrown over them, two Native Americans of the Great Plains employ a time-honored hunting method. In this context, however, they have disguised themselves as bison (Remington uses the incorrect term “buffalo” in his title, as well as a colonialist term for Native peoples) in order to scout the presence of white settlers; a barely visible wagon train seems to have prompted their significant look.
More than any other artist, Remington shaped our view (and misconceptions) of the so-called Old West. Fascinated with its vast panoramas and raw drama, he vividly recorded the lives of Native Americans, US cavalrymen, cowboys, and settlers in paintings, magazine illustrations, and sculptures. This painting, completed a year before his death, was commissioned for the magazine Collier’s Weekly.
More than any other artist, Remington shaped our view (and misconceptions) of the so-called Old West. Fascinated with its vast panoramas and raw drama, he vividly recorded the lives of Native Americans, US cavalrymen, cowboys, and settlers in paintings, magazine illustrations, and sculptures. This painting, completed a year before his death, was commissioned for the magazine Collier’s Weekly.
On view
In Collection(s)