The Amon Carter Museum of American Art ( the Carter ) is located in Fort Worth, Texas , in the city's cultural district. The museum's permanent collection features paintings , photography , sculpture , and works on paper by leading artists working in the United States and its North American territories in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The greatest concentration of works falls into the period from the 1820s through the 1940s. Photographs, prints, and other works on paper produced up to the present day are also an area of strength in the museum's holdings.
183-574: The collection was built on portrayals of the Old West by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell , artworks depicting nineteenth-century expansionism and settlement of the North American continent, and masterworks that are emblematic of major turning points in American art history. The "full spectrum" of American photography is documented by 45,000 exhibition-quality prints, dating from
366-780: A 284-acre farm called Mill Grove , 20 miles from Philadelphia , to diversify his investments. Increasing tension in Saint-Domingue between the colonists and slaves, who greatly outnumbered them, convinced the senior Audubon to return to France, where he became a member of the Republican Guard . In 1788 he arranged for Jean and in 1791 for Muguet to be transported to France. The children were raised in Couëron , near Nantes , France, by Audubon and his French wife, Anne Moynet Audubon, whom he had married years before his time in Saint-Domingue. In 1794 they formally adopted both
549-437: A bronze sculpture that evokes the "grand turmoil" resulting as a band of mounted hunters descends upon a herd of grazing buffalo. The Carter houses a wide selection of maps and artworks by European and American documentary artists who, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, traveled the North American continent in search of new sights and discoveries. Some of these artists worked independently, focusing on subjects or areas of
732-460: A collection that contains multiple examples of Remington's and Russell's best work at every stage of their respective careers. Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell were America's best known and most influential western illustrators. Working from his New York studio except when traveling, Remington produced colorful and masculine images of life in the Old West that shaped public perceptions of
915-498: A crucial role in national expansion. It facilitated expansion into the West by creating an inexpensive, fast, convenient communication system. Letters from early settlers provided information and boosterism to encourage increased migration to the West, helped scattered families stay in touch and provide neutral help, assisted entrepreneurs to find business opportunities, and made possible regular commercial relationships between merchants and
1098-571: A daughter by her, named Muguet. Bouffard also took care of the infant boy Jean. The senior Audubon had commanded ships. During the American Revolution , he was imprisoned by Britain. After his release, he helped the American cause. He had long worked to save money and secure his family's future with real estate. Due to repeated uprisings of slaves in the Caribbean, he sold part of his plantation in Saint-Domingue in 1789 and purchased
1281-631: A false passport so that Jean-Jacques could go to the United States to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic Wars . 18-year-old Jean-Jacques boarded ship, anglicizing his name to John James Audubon. Jean Audubon and Claude Rozier arranged a business partnership for their sons John James Audubon and Jean Ferdinand Rozier to pursue lead mining in Pennsylvania at Audubon's Pennsylvania property of Mill Grove. The Audubon-Rozier partnership
1464-543: A few thousand French migrated to Canada; these habitants settled in villages along the St. Lawrence River , building communities that remained stable for long stretches. Although French fur traders ranged widely through the Great Lakes and midwest region, they seldom settled down. French settlement was limited to a few very small villages such as Kaskaskia, Illinois as well as a larger settlement around New Orleans . In what
1647-444: A few years, the pioneer added hogs, sheep, and cattle, and perhaps acquired a horse. Homespun clothing replaced the animal skins. The more restless pioneers grew dissatisfied with over civilized life and uprooted themselves again to move 50 or a hundred miles (80 or 160 km) further west. The land policy of the new nation was conservative, paying special attention to the needs of the settled East. The goals sought by both parties in
1830-489: A focused group of later paintings by Dove, Hartley, Marin, and O'Keeffe that capture their response to the light and color of the New Mexican landscape near Taos. Charles Demuth's Chimney and Water Tower (1931), painted in the artist's hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, depicts a local linoleum factory as a grid of austere, monumental forms and passages of steel gray, blue, and deep red. Chimney and Water Tower entered
2013-421: A frontier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be a frontier line. In the discussion of its extent, its westward movement, etc., it can not, therefore, any longer have a place in the census reports." Despite this, the later 1900 U.S. census continued to show the westward frontier line, and his successors continued
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#17327804955892196-438: A minute more elapsed; but as that instant all the shrubs and trees began to move from their very roots, the ground rose and fell in successive furrows, like the ruffled water of a lake, and I became bewildered in my ideas, as I too plainly discovered, that all this awful commotion was the result of an earthquake. I had never witnessed anything of the kind before, although like every person, I knew earthquakes by description. But what
2379-644: A naturalist, writer, and painter in his own right. Audubon and Jean Ferdinand Rozier moved their merchant business partnership west at various stages, ending ultimately in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri , a former French colonial settlement west of the Mississippi River and south of St. Louis . Shipping goods ahead, Audubon and Rozier started a general store in Louisville, Kentucky on the Ohio River ;
2562-406: A new species. However, no specimen of the species has ever been found, and research published in 2020 suggests that this plate was a mixture of plagiarism and ornithological fraud. The cost of printing the entire work was $ 115,640 (over $ 2,000,000 today), paid for from advance subscriptions, exhibitions, oil painting commissions, and animal skins, which Audubon hunted and sold. Audubon's great work
2745-468: A one-room log cabin. The main food supply at first came from hunting deer, turkeys, and other abundant game. Clad in typical frontier garb, leather breeches, moccasins, fur cap, and hunting shirt, and girded by a belt from which hung a hunting knife and a shot pouch—all homemade—the pioneer presented a unique appearance. In a short time he opened in the woods a patch, or clearing, on which he grew corn, wheat, flax, tobacco, and other products, even fruit. In
2928-818: A party of 20 soldiers to find the headwaters of the Mississippi. He later explored the Red and Arkansas Rivers in Spanish territory, eventually reaching the Rio Grande . On his return, Pike sighted the peak in Colorado named after him . Major Stephen Harriman Long (1784–1864) led the Yellowstone and Missouri expeditions of 1819–1820, but his categorizing in 1823 of the Great Plains as arid and useless led to
3111-470: A principal trading center for Mississippi River traffic and inland commerce but remained under Spanish control until 1803. Thomas Jefferson thought of himself as a man of the frontier and was keenly interested in expanding and exploring the West. Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 doubled the size of the nation at the cost of $ 15 million, or about $ 0.04 per acre ($ 305 million in 2023 dollars, less than 42 cents per acre). Federalists opposed
3294-944: A professional Swiss landscape artist. The following summer, he moved upriver to the Oakley Plantation in Feliciana Parish, Louisiana , where he taught drawing to Eliza Pirrie, the young daughter of the owners. Though low-paying, the job was ideal, as it afforded him much time to roam and paint in the woods. (The plantation has been preserved as the Audubon State Historic Site , and is located at 11788 Highway 965, between Jackson and St. Francisville .) Audubon called his future work The Birds of America . He attempted to paint one page each day. Painting with newly discovered technique, he decided his earlier works were inferior and re-did them. He hired hunters to gather specimens for him. Audubon realized
3477-486: A profitable monopoly; he left the business as a multi-millionaire in 1834. As the frontier moved west, trappers and hunters moved ahead of settlers, searching out new supplies of beaver and other skins for shipment to Europe. The hunters were the first Europeans in much of the Old West and they formed the first working relationships with the Native Americans in the West. They added extensive knowledge of
3660-402: A salutary restraint upon the tribes, who would feel that any foray by their warriors upon the white settlements would meet with prompt retaliation upon their own homes. There was a debate at the time about the best size for the forts with Jefferson Davis , Winfield Scott , and Thomas Jesup supporting forts that were larger but fewer in number than Floyd. Floyd's plan was more expensive but had
3843-552: A significant and influential art form in the twentieth-century to the present, are the themes around which the Carter photography collection is organized. The personal archives of photographers Carlotta Corpron (1901–1988), Nell Dorr (1893–1988), Laura Gilpin (1891–1979), Eliot Porter (1901–1990), Erwin E. Smith (1886–1947), and Karl Struss (1886–1981) are prominent collection resources. Finding aids and guides for these and other monographic collections are available online under
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#17327804955894026-580: A spirit of nationalism and providing a necessary infrastructure. The army early on assumed the mission of protecting settlers along with the Westward Expansion Trails , a policy that was described by U.S. Secretary of War John B. Floyd in 1857: A line of posts running parallel without frontier, but near to the Indians' usual habitations, placed at convenient distances and suitable positions, and occupied by infantry, would exercise
4209-688: A storekeeper, a minister, and perhaps a doctor; and there were several landless laborers. All the rest were farmers. In the South, frontier areas that lacked transportation, such as the Appalachian Mountains region, remained based on subsistence farming and resembled the egalitarianism of their northern counterparts, although they had a larger upper-class of slaveowners. North Carolina was representative. However, frontier areas of 1700 that had good river connections were increasingly transformed into plantation agriculture. Rich men came in, bought up
4392-486: A story from his childhood, 30 years after the events reportedly took place, that has since garnered him the label of "first bird bander in America". The story has since been exposed as likely apocryphal. In the spring of 1804, according to the story, Audubon discovered a nest of the "Pewee Flycatcher", now known as the eastern phoebe ( Sayornis phoebe ), in a small grotto on the property of Mill Grove. To determine whether
4575-630: A vast variety of Old West subject matter drawing on real world experiences, historical evidence, and their artistic imaginations. Noteworthy artworks in the Carter collection by Remington and Russell include: 1) Frederic Remington, A Dash for the Timber (1889; see gallery below) -- a work that established Remington as a serious painter when it was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1889. 2) Frederic Remington, The Broncho Buster (1895) -- Remington's first attempt to model in bronze and
4758-402: A wealth of newspaper clippings, small exhibition catalogs, resumes, journal and periodical articles, reproductions, event invitations and announcements, portfolios, bibliographies, and similar material from which to draw. The Carter library houses a number of rare illustrated books. These titles are useful for their textual information and valuable as works of art for their original prints. Among
4941-451: Is a large and eloquent example of the trompe-l'œil genre and one that amply demonstrates the allure of Harnett's trompe-l'œil illusions for his nineteenth-century patrons. John Frederick Peto (1854–1907), a William Harnett contemporary who worked in relative obscurity, is represented in the collection by two highly accomplished trompe-l'œil compositions, Lamps of Other Days (1888) and A Closet Door (1904-06). Other trompe-l'œil paintings in
5124-738: Is a notable example of the Hudson River School's preoccupation with scenery along the Hudson River Valley and surrounding area (see picture gallery below). The Pre-Raphaelite movement , a British movement that was briefly influential among some artists of the Hudson River School in the mid-nineteenth century, is exemplified in Woodland Glade (1860) by William Trost Richards (1833–1905) and Hudson River, Above Catskill (1865) by Charles Herbert Moore (1840–1930). The Moore painting depicts an identifiable portion of
5307-660: Is available under the Library tab on the Carter website. An admission-free museum of western art was conceived by Amon G. Carter Sr. (1879–1955), publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram , a large-circulation, daily newspaper in Fort Worth, Texas. Carter and his wife, Nenetta Burton Carter, took a key step toward the museum's creation in 1945 when the Amon G. Carter Foundation, a Texas non-profit foundation,
5490-685: Is description compared to reality! Who can tell the sensations which I experienced when I found myself rocking, as it were, upon my horse, and with him moving to and fro like a child in a cradle, with the most imminent danger around me. He noted that as the earthquake retreated, "the air was filled with an extremely disagreeable sulphurous odor." During a visit to Philadelphia in 1812 following Congress' declaration of war against Great Britain, Audubon became an American citizen and had to give up his French citizenship. After his return to Kentucky, he found that rats had eaten his entire collection of more than 200 drawings. After weeks of depression , he took to
5673-502: Is estimated to have ranked from 8.4 to 8.8 on today's moment magnitude scale of severity, stronger than the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 which is estimated at 7.8. Audubon writes that while on horseback, he first believed the distant rumbling to be the sound of a tornado , but the animal knew better than I what was forthcoming, and instead of going faster, so nearly stopped that I remarked he placed one foot after another on
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5856-518: Is famous for classifying and painting in minute details 500 species of birds, published in Birds of America . The most famous of the explorers was John Charles Frémont (1813–1890), an Army officer in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. He displayed a talent for exploration and a genius at self-promotion that gave him the sobriquet of "Pathmarker of the West" and led him to the presidential nomination of
6039-526: Is not frequently displayed. The New-York Historical Society holds all 435 of the preparatory watercolors for The Birds of America . Lucy Audubon sold them to the society after her husband's death. All but 80 of the original copper plates were melted down when Lucy Audubon, desperate for money, sold them for scrap to the Phelps Dodge Corporation . King George IV was among the avid fans of Audubon and subscribed to support publication of
6222-533: Is now New York state the Dutch set up fur trading posts in the Hudson River valley, followed by large grants of land to rich landowning patroons who brought in tenant farmers who created compact, permanent villages. They created a dense rural settlement in upstate New York, but they did not push westward. Areas in the north that were in the frontier stage by 1700 generally had poor transportation facilities, so
6405-518: Is one of the best-known realist figure paintings in the history of American art. A summation of Eakins' painting technique and belief system, Swimming was acquired for the Carter collection in 1990. Crossing the Pasture (1871–72) by Winslow Homer (acquired 1976) combines the artist's skills as a figure painter with his gift for storytelling to create a charming image of rural New York life. Indian Group (1845) by Charles Deas (1818–1867) explores
6588-410: Is one of the country's major repositories for historical and fine art photographs. The Carter has over 350,000 photographic works in its collection, including 45,000 exhibition-quality prints. These holdings span the complete history of photographic processes used in America from daguerreotypes to digital. Photography's central role in documenting American culture and history, and the medium's evolution as
6771-526: Is one of the highlights of the Carter's works on paper collection. Leading American printmakers Martin Lewis (1881–1962), Louis Lozowick (1892–1973), and Reginald Marsh (1898–1954) are each represented by multiple examples of their graphic work. Also housed in the collection are early works by Edward Hopper (1882–1967) and a complete set of prints by modernist Stuart Davis (1892–1964). An early watercolor by Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000), acquired in 1987, marks
6954-541: Is seen in works by John Flannagan (1895–1942), Robert Laurent (1890–1970), and Elie Nadelman (1882–1946). Signature works by Alexander Calder (1898–1976) and Louise Nevelson (1899–1988) are among the mid-twentieth century sculptural pieces in the collection. Nevelson's Lunar Landscape is a large, painted-wood construction that dates to 1959-60 (see picture gallery below). The Carter collection contains several examples of American Impressionism . Idle Hours (about 1894) by William Merritt Chase (1849–1916) anchors
7137-546: Is the eponym of the National Audubon Society , and his name adorns a large number of towns, neighborhoods, and streets across the United States . Dozens of scientific names first published by Audubon are still in use by the scientific community. In recent years, his legacy has become controversial for his involvement in slavery and his racist writings, as well as allegations of dishonesty. Audubon
7320-790: The Archives of American Art , Smithsonian Institution . In this role, the Carter library offers access to 7,500 microfilm reels of unrestricted material from the Archives of American Art representing about fifteen-million primary, unpublished documents related to American artists, galleries, and collectors. The library's Vertical File/Ephemera collection contains a wide variety of loose material and small publications on artists, museums, commercial galleries, and other art organizations. Included in this collection are biographical files, arranged by name, with coverage of about 9,000 artists, photographers, and collectors. These biographical files offer researchers
7503-592: The Bureau of American Ethnology is another of the collection's highlights, along with a complete set of Edward Curtis 's The North American Indian . The Carter's collection of nineteenth-century landscape photographs includes images by John K. Hillers (1843–1925), William Henry Jackson (1843–1942), Timothy H. O'Sullivan (1840–1882), Andrew J. Russell (1830–1902), and Carleton E. Watkins (1829–1916). Twentieth-century master images by Ansel Adams (1902–1984) are complemented by later twentieth-century landscapes from
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7686-661: The Knoedler Library on Microfiche (art auction and exhibition catalogs), New York Public Library Artists File, New York Public Library Print File, and America , 1935–1946 (photographs from the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information in the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress ). The Amon Carter Museum of American Art is the mid-country research affiliate of
7869-603: The Louisiana Purchase , giving rise to the expansionist attitude known as " manifest destiny " and historians' " Frontier Thesis ". The legends, historical events and folklore of the American frontier, known as the frontier myth , have embedded themselves into United States culture so much so that the Old West, and the Western genre of media specifically, has become one of the defining features of American national identity. Historians have debated at length as to when
8052-713: The Midwest and American South , though no longer considered "western", have a frontier heritage along with the modern western states. Richard W. Slatta, in his view of the frontier, writes that "historians sometimes define the American West as lands west of the 98th meridian or 98° west longitude ," and that other definitions of the region "include all lands west of the Mississippi or Missouri rivers." Key: States Territories Disputed areas Other countries In
8235-777: The West Coast . Enormous popular attention was focused on the Western United States (especially the Southwest ) in the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, from the 1850s to the 1910s. Such media typically exaggerated the romance, anarchy, and chaotic violence of the period for greater dramatic effect. This inspired the Western genre of film, along with television shows , novels , comic books , video games , children's toys, and costumes. As defined by Hine and Faragher, "frontier history tells
8418-499: The Wild West , encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few contiguous western territories as states in 1912. This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following
8601-631: The colonial era , before 1776, the west was of high priority for settlers and politicians. The American frontier began when Jamestown , Virginia, was settled by the English in 1607. In the earliest days of European settlement on the Atlantic coast, until about 1680, the frontier was essentially any part of the interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing settlements along the Atlantic coast. English , French , Spanish , and Dutch patterns of expansion and settlement were quite different. Only
8784-445: The 1600s to the 1900s (decades) with occasional movements north into Maine and New Hampshire, south into Florida, and east from California into Nevada. Pockets of settlements would also appear far past the established frontier line, particularly on the West Coast and the deep interior, with settlements such as Los Angeles and Salt Lake City respectively. The " West " was the recently settled area near that boundary. Thus, parts of
8967-466: The 1790–1820 era were to grow the economy, avoid draining away the skilled workers needed in the East, distribute the land wisely, sell it at prices that were reasonable to settlers yet high enough to pay off the national debt, clear legal titles, and create a diversified Western economy that would be closely interconnected with the settled areas with minimal risk of a breakaway movement. By the 1830s, however,
9150-581: The 1840s called for low-cost land for free white farmers, a position enacted into law by the new Republican Party in 1862, offering free 160 acres (65 ha) homesteads to all adults, male and female, black and white, native-born or immigrant. After winning the Revolutionary War (1783), American settlers in large numbers poured into the west. In 1788, American pioneers to the Northwest Territory established Marietta, Ohio , as
9333-710: The ACMAA holdings of American Impressionist paintings. Chase's student and protégé Julian Onderdonk (1882–1922) is represented by a Texas scene, A Cloudy Day, Bluebonnets near San Antonio, Texas (1918). Flags on the Waldorf (1916) is a signature New York work by Childe Hassam (1859–1935). Other well-known American Impressionist painters who have pieces in the collection are Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), Willard Metcalf (1858–1925), and Dennis Miller Bunker (1861–1890; see picture gallery below). New York photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) befriended and championed several of
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#17327804955899516-506: The American frontier experience for an eastern audience eager for information. Montana resident Charles Russell, with his cowboy dress, laconic manner, and storytelling prowess, epitomized, in the early twentieth-century, the image of the Cowboy Artist in the eyes of the eastern press. Though neither artist had lived on the frontier at the height of America's westward expansion, their drawings, paintings, and sculptures were infused with
9699-549: The Amon Carter Museum of Western Art. The museum's original collection of more than 300 works of art by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell was assembled by Fort Worth newspaper publisher and philanthropist Amon G. Carter Sr. (1879–1955). Carter spent the last ten years of his life laying the legal, financial, and philosophical groundwork for the museum's creation. Over 400 works of art by Frederic Remington (1861–1909) and Charles M. Russell (1864–1926) form
9882-613: The Appalachian Mountains included the Connecticut River valley, and northern New England (which was a move to the north, not the west). Settlers on the frontier often connected isolated incidents to indicate Indian conspiracies to attack them, but these lacked a French diplomatic dimension after 1763, or a Spanish connection after 1820. Most of the frontiers experienced numerous conflicts. The French and Indian War broke out between Britain and France, with
10065-533: The Audubon family farm at Mill Grove. The 284-acre (115 ha) homestead is located on the Perkiomen Creek a few miles from Valley Forge . Audubon lived with the tenants in the two-story stone house, in an area that he considered a paradise. "Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every moment; cares I knew not, and cared naught about them." Studying his surroundings, Audubon quickly learned
10248-475: The British plan to set up a Native state in U.S. territory south of the Great Lakes. They explained the American policy toward the acquisition of Native lands: The United States, while intending never to acquire lands from the Indians otherwise than peaceably, and with their free consent, are fully determined, in that manner, progressively, and in proportion as their growing population may require, to reclaim from
10431-526: The Carter added two important series of lithographs to these holdings, one by Glenn Ligon (born 1960) and another by Sedrick Huckaby (born 1975). The Carter library is a 150,000 item art reference library available for use by museum curators, researchers, and interested members of the public. The library provides access to a 50,000 book collection, augmented by related collections of microform, periodicals and journals, auction catalogs, and ephemera. The library's holdings are non-circulating and organized around
10614-429: The Carter collection are organized around the careers of Robert Adams (born 1937), Barbara Crane (born 1928), Frank Gohlke (born 1942), Robert Glenn Ketchum (born 1947), Clara Sipprell (1885–1975), Brett Weston (1911–1993), and Edward Weston (1886–1958). The Carter owns a complete set of prints from Richard Avedon 's In the American West series, a project commissioned by the Carter in 1979. In recent years
10797-631: The Carter collection in 1995. Several important paintings by American modernist Stuart Davis (1892–1964) are housed in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, including an early self-portrait painted in 1912 and a work from his Egg Beater series, Egg Beater No. 2 (1928). American modernists represented in the Carter collection also include Josef Albers (1888–1976), Will Barnet (1911–2012), Oscar Bluemner (1867–1938), Morton Schamberg (1881–1918), Ben Shahn (1898–1969), Charles Sheeler (1883–1965), Joseph Stella (1877–1946), and others (see picture gallery below). The Amon Carter Museum of American Art
10980-610: The Carter collection were created by De Scott Evans (1847–1898) and John Haberle (1853–1933). America's first recognized still-life painter, Raphaelle Peale (1774–1825), is represented in the Carter collection by an 1813 composition Peaches and Grapes in a Chinese Export Basket . Other classic American still lifes featuring fruit or flowers include Wrapped Oranges (1889) by William J. McCloskey (1859–1941) and Abundance (after 1848) by Severin Roesen (1815–after 1872). The Carter's sculpture collection provides historical context for
11163-481: The Carter collection. Portraitist John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) is represented in the museum's collection by formal portraits of two American subjects, Alice Vanderbilt Shepard (1888), and Edwin Booth (1890; see picture gallery below). Trompe-l'œil ("fool the eye") paintings and classic still-life paintings make up a prominent component of the Carter collection. Ease (1887) by William M. Harnett (1848–1892)
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#173278049558911346-489: The Carter's core collection of art of the Old West . These holdings include drawings, illustrated letters, prints, oil paintings, sculptures, and watercolors produced by Remington and Russell during their lifetimes. More than sixty of the works by Remington and more than 250 of the works by Russell were purchased by the museum's namesake, Amon G. Carter Sr., over a twenty-year span beginning in 1935. Additions to Amon G. Carter's original holdings by museum curators have resulted in
11529-685: The Collections/Photographs/Learn More tabs on the Carter website. The Carter's photography collection contains early images of Americans at war, anchored by 55 Mexican–American War (1847–1848) daguerreotypes. The collection houses a copy of Alexander Gardner 's two-volume work, Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War and a copy of Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign (1865) by George Barnard. A group of more than 1,400 nineteenth and early twentieth-century portraits of Native Americans that originated with
11712-485: The Double Elephant folio for its double elephant paper size, it is often regarded as the greatest picture book ever produced and the finest aquatint work. By the 1830s the aquatint process had been largely superseded by lithography . A contemporary French critic wrote, "A magic power transported us into the forests which for so many years this man of genius has trod. Learned and ignorant alike were astonished at
11895-556: The French making up for their small colonial population base by enlisting Native war parties as allies. The series of large wars spilling over from European wars ended in a complete victory for the British in the worldwide Seven Years' War . In the peace treaty of 1763 , France ceded practically everything, as the lands west of the Mississippi River, in addition to Florida and New Orleans, went to Spain. Otherwise, lands east of
12078-633: The Homestead Law of 1862, with a moderated pace that gave settlers 160 acres free after they worked on it for five years. The private profit motive dominated the movement westward, but the federal government played a supporting role in securing the land through treaties and setting up territorial governments, with governors appointed by the President. The federal government first acquired western territory through treaties with other nations or native tribes. Then it sent surveyors to map and document
12261-443: The Hudson River School and Luminism was focused on a western United States location about 1870 when Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) produced Sunrise, Yosemite Valley . This grandiose example of the artist's work was completed after Bierstadt's third trip to the American west. It was added to the Carter collection in 1966. Another Hudson River School painter who headed west was Thomas Moran (1837–1926). Moran, famous for his paintings of
12444-508: The Hudson River adjacent to the home of Thomas Cole, making it likely that the painting was intended as a tribute to Cole. Hudson River School paintings that reflect the influence of Luminism are also found in the Carter collection. These include works by Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823–1880), Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904), John Frederick Kensett (1816–1872), and Fitz Henry Lane (1804–1865). Given its "dark, brooding mystery,"
12627-697: The Mississippi River and what is now Canada went to Britain. Regardless of wars, Americans were moving across the Appalachians into western Pennsylvania, what is now West Virginia, and areas of the Ohio Country , Kentucky, and Tennessee. In the southern settlements via the Cumberland Gap , their most famous leader was Daniel Boone . Young George Washington promoted settlements in West Virginia on lands awarded to him and his soldiers by
12810-463: The Mississippi. (Audubon's account reveals that he learned oil painting in December 1822 from Jacob Stein, an itinerant portrait artist. After they had enjoyed all the portrait patronage to be expected in Natchez, Mississippi , during January–March 1823, they resolved to travel together as perambulating portrait-artists.) During this period (1822–1823), Audubon also worked as an instructor at Jefferson College in Washington, Mississippi . Lucy became
12993-539: The Missouri River, and such principal stream of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean; whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado, or any other river may offer the most direct and practicable communication across the continent for commerce". Jefferson also instructed the expedition to study the region's native tribes (including their morals, language, and culture), weather, soil, rivers, commercial trading, and animal and plant life. Entrepreneurs, most notably John Jacob Astor quickly seized
13176-605: The Northeast, there was little competition on the western frontier for Transylvania University , founded in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1780. It boasted of a law school in addition to its undergraduate and medical programs. Transylvania attracted politically ambitious young men from across the Southwest, including 50 who became United States senators, 101 representatives, 36 governors, and 34 ambassadors, as well as Jefferson Davis,
13359-461: The Northwest terrain, including the important South Pass through the central Rocky Mountains. Discovered about 1812, it later became a major route for settlers to Oregon and Washington. By 1820, however, a new "brigade-rendezvous" system sent company men in "brigades" cross-country on long expeditions, bypassing many tribes. It also encouraged "free trappers" to explore new regions on their own. At
13542-488: The Ohio River with a load of goods, Audubon joined up with Shawnee and Osage hunting parties, learning their methods, drawing specimens by the bonfire, and finally parting "like brethren". Audubon had great respect for Native Americans : "Whenever I meet Indians, I feel the greatness of our Creator in all its splendor, for there I see the man naked from His hand and yet free from acquired sorrow." Audubon also admired
13725-671: The Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The pages were organized for artistic effect and contrasting interest, as if the reader were taking a visual tour. (Some critics thought he should have organized the plates in Linnaean order as befitting a "serious" ornithological treatise.) The first and perhaps most famous plate was the wild turkey. Among the earliest plates printed was the "Bird of Washington", which generated favorable publicity for Audubon as his first discovery of
13908-640: The Royal government in payment for their wartime service in Virginia's militia. Settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains were curtailed briefly by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , forbidding settlement in this area. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) re-opened most of the western lands for frontiersmen to settle. The nation was at peace after 1783. The states gave Congress control of the western lands and an effective system for population expansion
14091-476: The Standard Oil of New Jersey Collection; and project photographs from the 1986 statewide survey Contemporary Texas: A Photographic Portrait . Additionally, twentieth-century documentary photographs by Russell Lee (1903–1986), Arthur Rothstein (1915–1985), Marion Post Wolcott (1910–1990), and many others are housed in the museum's collection. Other substantive groups of twentieth-century photographs in
14274-574: The US and the United Kingdom. Audubon and Rozier mutually agreed to end their partnership at Ste. Genevieve on April 6, 1811. Audubon had decided to work at ornithology and art and wanted to return to Lucy and their son in Kentucky. Rozier agreed to pay Audubon US$ 3,000 (equivalent to $ 54,936 in 2023), with $ 1,000 in cash and the balance to be paid over time. The terms of the dissolution of
14457-760: The United States War Department and the United States Department of the Interior are important components of the works on paper collection. These prints were typically based on field sketches by artists who accompanied the expeditions. They provide unique views of the western landscape, Indian life, natural history, ancient Spanish culture, and life in nineteenth-century American frontier communities. The Frémont Expeditions (1842–44), Emory Expedition (1846–47), Abert Expedition (1846–47), and Simpson Expedition (1849) are among
14640-533: The West and wholesalers and factories back east. The postal service likewise assisted the Army in expanding control over the vast western territories. The widespread circulation of important newspapers by mail, such as the New York Weekly Tribune , facilitated coordination among politicians in different states. The postal service helped to integrate already established areas with the frontier, creating
14823-517: The West was filling up with squatters who had no legal deed, although they may have paid money to previous settlers. The Jacksonian Democrats favored the squatters by promising rapid access to cheap land. By contrast, Henry Clay was alarmed at the "lawless rabble" heading West who were undermining the utopian concept of a law-abiding, stable middle-class republican community. Rich southerners, meanwhile, looked for opportunities to buy high-quality land to set up slave plantations. The Free Soil movement of
15006-507: The Western History Society, now known as The Museum of Natural History at The Cincinnati Museum Center . He then traveled south on the Mississippi with his gun, paintbox, and assistant Joseph Mason , who stayed with him from October 1820 to August 1822 and painted the plant life backgrounds of many of Audubon's bird studies. He was committed to find and paint all the birds of North America for eventual publication. His goal
15189-476: The Wilderness Road. Kentucky at this time had been depopulated—it was "empty of Indian villages." However raiding parties sometimes came through. One of those intercepted was Abraham Lincoln 's grandfather, who was scalped in 1784 near Louisville. The War of 1812 marked the final confrontation involving major British and Native forces fighting to stop American expansion. The British war goal included
15372-451: The Yellowstone region of Wyoming, is represented in the Carter collection by his 1874 oil Cliffs of Green River (see picture gallery below). Nineteenth-century figure paintings, portraits, and genre pictures (portrayals of everyday life) represent an important chapter in the history of American art development, and several examples of these types of paintings are found in the Carter collection. Swimming (1885) by Thomas Eakins (1844–1916)
15555-519: The action and convincing realism of direct observation. Russell moved to Montana Territory in 1880, nine years before statehood, and had worked as a cowboy for more than a decade before beginning his career as a professional artist. Remington toured Montana in 1881, later owned a sheep ranch in Kansas, and had traversed Arizona Territory in 1886 as an illustrator for Harper's Weekly . These and other experiences enabled both artists to convincingly portray
15738-430: The advance of American settlement westward, explain American development." Through treaties with foreign nations and native tribes , political compromise, military conquest, the establishment of law and order, the building of farms, ranches, and towns, the marking of trails and digging of mines, combined with successive waves of immigrants moving into the region, the United States expanded from coast to coast, fulfilling
15921-511: The ambitious project would take him away from his family for months at a time. Audubon sometimes used his drawing talent to trade for goods or sell small works to raise cash. He made charcoal portraits on demand at $ 5 each and gave drawing lessons. In 1823, Audubon took lessons in oil painting technique from John Steen, a teacher of American landscape, and history painter Thomas Cole . Though he did not use oils much for his bird work, Audubon earned good money painting oil portraits for patrons along
16104-527: The archetypical Old West or "Wild West" such as violent conflict arising from encroaching settlement into frontier land, the removal and assimilation of natives, consolidation of property to large corporations and government, vigilantism, and the attempted enforcement of laws upon outlaws. In 1890, the Superintendent of the Census, William Rush Merriam stated: "Up to and including 1880 the country had
16287-569: The ascension of this important artist's career. The Carter collection houses almost 2,500 fine art lithographs made at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles, California between 1960 and 1978. The museum also houses an important collection of drawings, watercolors, and prints by early Texas artist Bror Utter (1913–1993), including Utter's 1957-58 studies of vanishing Fort Worth architecture. Most recently,
16470-466: The banded phoebes as adults (i.e., a 40% rate of natal philopatry ) has not been replicated by modern studies with much larger sample sizes (e.g., 1.6% rate among 549 nestlings banded; and 1.3% rate among 217 nestlings banded). These facts cast doubt on the truth of Audubon's story. In 1808, Audubon moved to Kentucky, which was rapidly being settled. Six months later, he married Lucy Bakewell at her family estate, Fatland Ford , Pennsylvania, and took her
16653-423: The bat down, resulting in the destruction of the violin. Audubon reportedly took revenge by showing drawings and describing some fictitious fishes and rodents to Rafinesque; Rafinesque gave scientific names to some of these fishes in his Ichthyologia Ohiensis . On October 12, 1820, Audubon traveled into Mississippi , Alabama , and Florida in search of ornithological specimens. He traveled with George Lehman ,
16836-506: The beauty and softness of their plumage. He called my attention to their show of pleasure or sense of danger, their perfect forms and splendid attire. He would speak of their departure and return with the seasons. In France during the years of the French Revolution and its aftermath, Audubon grew up to be a handsome and gregarious man. He played flute and violin, and learned to ride, fence , and dance. Audubon enjoyed roaming in
17019-410: The bird species of North America. He was notable for his extensive studies documenting all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations, which depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book titled The Birds of America (1827–1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon is also known for identifying 25 new species. He
17202-512: The book. Britain's Royal Society recognized Audubon's achievement by electing him as a fellow. He was the second American to be elected after statesman Benjamin Franklin . While in Edinburgh to seek subscribers for the book, Audubon gave a demonstration of his method of supporting birds with wire at professor Robert Jameson 's Wernerian Natural History Association . Student Charles Darwin
17385-716: The business records of the Roman Bronze Works (est. 1897-closed 1988) of Queens, New York, long one of America's premier art bronze foundries, and a range of documents related to the Carter's institutional history. In 1996, the Carter library partnered with the libraries of the Kimbell Art Museum and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth to create the Cultural District Library Consortium (CDLC). The purpose of
17568-458: The children to regularize their legal status in France. They renamed the boy Jean-Jacques Fougère Audubon and the girl Rose. From his earliest days, the younger Audubon had an affinity for birds. "I felt an intimacy with them...bordering on frenzy [that] must accompany my steps through life." His father encouraged his interest in nature: He would point out the elegant movement of the birds, and
17751-498: The city had an increasingly important slave market and was the most important port between Pittsburgh and New Orleans . Soon he was drawing bird specimens again. He regularly burned his earlier efforts to force continuous improvement. He also took detailed field notes to document his drawings. Due to rising tensions with the British, President Jefferson ordered an embargo on British trade in 1808, hurting Audubon's trading business. In 1810, Audubon moved his business further west to
17934-748: The coalition of hostile Native tribes. Meanwhile, General Andrew Jackson ended the Native military threat in the Southeast at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 in Alabama. In general, the frontiersmen battled the Natives with little help from the U.S. Army or the federal government. To end the war, American diplomats negotiated the Treaty of Ghent , signed towards the end of 1814, with Britain. They rejected
18117-608: The collection by other noted expeditionary artists include rare nineteenth-century field studies by Edward Everett (1818–1903), Richard H. Kern (1821–1853), John H. B. Latrobe (1803–1891), Alfred Jacob Miller (1810–1874), and Peter Rindisbacher (1806–1834); nineteenth-century views of the American West by John Mix Stanley (1814–1872) and Henry Warre (1819–1898); and early views of San Francisco by Thomas A. Ayres (1816–1858). See Expeditionary art and depictions of Native American life (above) for more information on American expeditionary art and artists. Preeminent American artists of
18300-521: The collection. Bust of a Greek Slave (after 1846) by Hiram Powers (1805–1873) is an example of an American neoclassical work carved in marble. Two American sculptors who enjoyed great success during their lifetimes, Frederick MacMonnies (1863–1937) and Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907), are represented in the Carter collection by cast bronze works created in the late nineteenth century. Alexander Phimister Proctor (1860–1950) and Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876–1973) are represented by bronzes created in
18483-456: The consortium was to explore new ways of sharing the resources of the three Fort Worth institutions via online public access. In 1998, with technical assistance from the library at Texas Christian University , the three museums launched an online CDLC catalog that allows website visitors access to the combined collections of all three art museum libraries. Today, the CDLC catalog also gives access to
18666-555: The cotton-hauling ship Delos , reaching England in the autumn of 1826 with his portfolio of over 300 drawings. With letters of introduction to prominent Englishmen, and paintings of imaginary species including the "Bird of Washington", Audubon gained their quick attention. "I have been received here in a manner not to be expected during my highest enthusiastic hopes." The British could not get enough of Audubon's images of backwoods America and its natural attractions. He met with great acceptance as he toured around England and Scotland, and
18849-457: The country of their own choosing. Others served as documentarians on expeditions of continental discovery sent out by the U. S. government or by European sponsors. In these roles, artists were uniquely positioned to record the topography, animal and plant life, and diverse Indian culture of America and its frontiers. Finding and collecting drawings, oil paintings, watercolors, and published lithographs by these European and American documentary artists
19032-711: The creation of an Indian barrier state under British auspices in the Midwest which would halt American expansion westward. American frontier militiamen under General Andrew Jackson defeated the Creeks and opened the Southwest, while militia under Governor William Henry Harrison defeated the Native-British alliance at the Battle of the Thames in Canada in 1813. The death in battle of the Native leader Tecumseh dissolved
19215-464: The creek, and among the outhouses in the neighbourhood … having caught several of these birds on the nest, [he] had the pleasure of finding that two of them had the little ring on the leg." However, multiple independent primary sources (including original, dated drawings of European species ) demonstrate that Audubon was in France during the spring of 1805, not in Pennsylvania as he later claimed. Furthermore, Audubon's claim to have re-sighted 2 out of 5 of
19398-497: The critical movements in nineteenth-century American landscape painting, is an important focus of the Carter collection. Two major oils by Thomas Cole (1801–1848) and one by Cole's protégé Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900) anchor the museum's holdings of signature Hudson River School paintings. The Narrows from Staten Island (1866–68), a panoramic depiction of Staten Island and New York Harbor by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823–1900),
19581-467: The earliest years of the medium to the present. A rotating selection of works from the permanent collection is on view year-round during regular museum hours, and several thousand of these works can be studied online using the Collection tab on the Carter's official website. Museum admission for all exhibits, including special exhibits, is free. The Amon Carter Museum of American Art opened in 1961 as
19764-417: The edge of a line of settlement. Theorist Frederick Jackson Turner went deeper, arguing that the frontier was the scene of a defining process of American civilization: "The frontier," he asserted, "promoted the formation of a composite nationality for the American people." He theorized it was a process of development: "This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward...furnish[es]
19947-692: The end of the gathering season, the trappers would "rendezvous" and turn in their goods for pay at river ports along the Green River , Upper Missouri, and the Upper Mississippi. St. Louis was the largest of the rendezvous towns. By 1830, however, fashions changed and beaver hats were replaced by silk hats, ending the demand for expensive American furs. Thus ended the era of the mountain men , trappers, and scouts such as Jedediah Smith , Hugh Glass , Davy Crockett , Jack Omohundro , and others. The trade in beaver fur virtually ceased by 1845. There
20130-479: The established frontier line. The U.S. Census Bureau designated frontier territory as generally unoccupied land with a population density of fewer than 2 people per square mile (0.77 people per square kilometer). The frontier line was the outer boundary of European-American settlement into this land. Beginning with the first permanent European settlements on the East Coast , it has moved steadily westward from
20313-400: The expansion, but Jeffersonians hailed the opportunity to create millions of new farms to expand the domain of land-owning yeomen ; the ownership would strengthen the ideal republican society, based on agriculture (not commerce), governed lightly, and promoting self-reliance and virtue, as well as form the political base for Jeffersonian Democracy . France was paid for its sovereignty over
20496-531: The field again, determined to re-do his drawings to an even higher standard. The War of 1812 upset Audubon's plans to move his business to New Orleans . He formed a partnership with Lucy's brother and built up their trade in Henderson. Between 1812 and the Panic of 1819 , times were good. Audubon bought land and slaves , founded a flour mill, and enjoyed his growing family. After 1819, Audubon went bankrupt and
20679-795: The first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory . In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened to reach the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville . The Wilderness Road was steep and rough, and it could only be traversed on foot or horseback, but it was the best route for thousands of settlers moving into Kentucky . In some areas they had to face Native attacks. In 1784 alone, Natives killed over 100 travelers on
20862-418: The first time. One of the largest and most famous camp meetings took place at Cane Ridge, Kentucky , in 1801. John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin , April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American self-trained artist, naturalist , and ornithologist . His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictorial record of all
21045-475: The forces dominating American character." Turner's ideas since 1893 have inspired generations of historians (and critics) to explore multiple individual American frontiers, but the popular folk frontier concentrates on the conquest and settlement of Native American lands west of the Mississippi River , in what is now the Midwest , Texas , the Great Plains , the Rocky Mountains , the Southwest , and
21228-524: The frontier era began, when it ended, and which were its key sub-periods. For example, the Old West subperiod is sometimes used by historians regarding the time from the end of the American Civil War in 1865 to when the Superintendent of the Census, William Rush Merriam , stated the U.S. Census Bureau would stop recording western frontier settlement as part of its census categories after the 1890 U.S. Census . His successors however continued
21411-564: The good land, and worked it with slaves. The area was no longer "frontier". It had a stratified society comprising a powerful upper-class white landowning gentry, a small middle-class, a fairly large group of landless or tenant white farmers, and a growing slave population at the bottom of the social pyramid. Unlike the North, where small towns and even cities were common, the South was overwhelmingly rural. The seaboard colonial settlements gave priority to land ownership for individual farmers, and as
21594-461: The goods and property of the late firm Audubon and Rozier. In witness thereof I have set my hand and seal this Sixth day of April 1811 John Audubon Ed D. DeVillamonte Audubon was working in Missouri and out riding when the 1811 New Madrid earthquake struck. When Audubon reached his house, he was relieved to find no major damage, but the area was shaken by aftershocks for months. The quake
21777-426: The ground with as much precaution as if walking on a smooth piece of ice. I thought he had suddenly foundered, and, speaking to him, was on point of dismounting and leading him, when he all of a sudden fell a-groaning piteously, hung his head, spread out his forelegs, as if to save himself from falling, and stood stock still, continuing to groan. I thought my horse was about to die, and would have sprung from his back had
21960-457: The ideology of Manifest Destiny. In his "Frontier Thesis" (1893), Turner theorized that the frontier was a process that transformed Europeans into a new people, the Americans, whose values focused on equality, democracy, and optimism, as well as individualism , self-reliance, and even violence. The frontier is the margin of undeveloped territory that would comprise the United States beyond
22143-643: The illustrated books in the library collection are American Ornithology, or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States (Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep, 1809–14), the first bird book published in the United States and the first outstanding American color plate book; and The Aboriginal Port-folio (Philadelphia: J.O. Lewis, 1835–36), the first color plate book published on the North American Indian. Other illustrated books owned by
22326-786: The land. By the 20th century, Washington bureaucracies managed the federal lands such as the United States General Land Office in the Interior Department, and after 1891, the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture. After 1900, dam building and flood control became major concerns. Transportation was a key issue and the Army (especially the Army Corps of Engineers) was given full responsibility for facilitating navigation on
22509-1047: The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries like Winslow Homer (1836–1910), George Inness (1825–1894), John La Farge (1835–1910), and famed expatriates John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) and James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) are each represented by high-quality drawings and/or paintings in the Carter's works on paper collection. Other artists in the works on paper collection who are associated with major movements in American art include American Pre-Raphaelites Fidelia Bridges (1834–1923), Henry Farrer (1844–1903), John Henry Hill (1839–1922), Henry Roderick Newman (1833–1918), and William Trost Richards (1833–1905); Ashcan School illustrator John Sloan (1871–1951); and leading twentieth-century modernists Charles Demuth (1883–1935), Arthur Dove (1880–1946), John Marin (1870–1953), Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986), Morton Livingston Schamberg (1881–1918), and Abraham Walkowitz (1878–1965). A master set of over 200 lithographs by American realist painter George Wesley Bellows (1882–1925)
22692-467: The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries respectively. A bronze sculpture by Solon Borglum (1868–1922), who, like Remington and Russell, specialized in depictions of Old West subjects, and a two-piece bronze by Paul Manship (1885–1966), Indian Hunter and Pronghorn Antelope (1914), are in the collection as well. The experimentation of early twentieth-century artists with nature-based abstraction and direct carving techniques from natural materials
22875-409: The less competitive Henderson, Kentucky , area. He and his small family took over an abandoned log cabin. In the fields and forests, Audubon wore typical frontier clothes and moccasins, having "a ball pouch, a buffalo horn filled with gunpowder, a butcher knife, and a tomahawk on his belt". He frequently turned to hunting and fishing to feed his family, as business was slow. On a prospecting trip down
23058-725: The libraries of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame , and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT). To search the Carter library holdings, click Search the Carter Library Catalog in the External links section (below). Professional assistance and access to items in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art library is provided in the library reading room during the stated hours of operation. More information
23241-576: The library are highlighted under the Collection tab on the Carter website, and many of the illustrations within these books are digitized and searchable. The museum archives contain private papers and records originating from individuals, usually artists or photographers, that are often integrally connected to the museum's art collection. Among these records are the personal archives of photographers Laura Gilpin (1891–1979), Eliot Porter (1901–1990), and Karl Struss (1886–1981). The archives also house
23424-412: The little fellows habituated to them; and at last, when they were about to leave the nest, I fixed a light silver thread to the leg of each, loose enough not to hurt the part, but so fastened that no exertions of theirs could remove it. He also said that he had "ample proof afterwards that the brood of young Pewees, raised in the cave, returned the following spring, and established themselves farther up on
23607-454: The malicious hope of his enemies, for even the gentle lover of nature has enemies, had been disappointed; he had secured a commanding place in the respect and gratitude of men. Colorists applied each color in assembly-line fashion (over fifty were hired for the work). The original edition was engraved in aquatint by Robert Havell Jr., who took over the task after the first ten plates engraved by W. H. Lizars were deemed inadequate. Known as
23790-466: The most visionary modern painters to emerge in early twentieth-century America. Five modern artists who were closely identified with Stieglitz's circle are represented in the Carter collection. They are Charles Demuth (1883–1935), Arthur G. Dove (1880–1946), Marsden Hartley (1877–1943), John Marin (1870–1953), and Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986). The collection houses early works by Demuth, Dove, Hartley, and O'Keeffe, produced between 1908 and 1918, and
23973-465: The mountains for the proposed transcontinental railroad, but his expedition ended in near-disaster when it became lost and was trapped by heavy snow. His reports mixed narrative of exciting adventure with scientific data and detailed practical information for travelers. It caught the public imagination and inspired many to head west. Goetzman says it was "monumental in its breadth, a classic of exploring literature". While colleges were springing up across
24156-578: The museum has largely focused on acquiring and displaying photographs by contemporary artists including Dawoud Bey (born 1953), Sharon Core (born 1965), Katy Grannan (born 1969), Todd Hido (born 1968), Alex Prager (born 1979), Mark Ruwedel (born 1954), and Larry Sultan (1946–2009). Much of America's aesthetic, economic, and social history is found in works on paper, a category that includes drawings, prints, and watercolors. The Carter began to actively collect works on paper in 1967. The collection today numbers several thousand items by noted artists of
24339-620: The museum's deep holdings of bronze sculpture by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, as well as acknowledging the importance of sculpture in the wider history of American art. As such, the collection contains works created by leading individuals in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Choosing of the Arrow (1849) by Henry Kirke Brown (1814–1886) is one of the earliest bronzes cast in America. Slightly later bronze sculptures, The Indian Hunter (1857–59) and The Freedman (1863), both by John Quincy Adams Ward (1830–1910), are also in
24522-585: The naturalist and physician Charles-Marie D'Orbigny, who improved Audubon's taxidermy skills and taught him scientific methods of research. Although his return ship was overtaken by an English privateer , Audubon and his hidden gold coins survived the encounter. Audubon resumed his bird studies and created his own nature museum, perhaps inspired by the great museum of natural history created by Charles Willson Peale in Philadelphia. Peale's bird exhibits were considered scientifically advanced. Audubon's room
24705-402: The new Republican Party in 1856. He led a series of expeditions in the 1840s which answered many of the outstanding geographic questions about the little-known region. He crossed through the Rocky Mountains by five different routes and mapped parts of Oregon and California. In 1846–1847, he played a role in conquering California. In 1848–1849, Frémont was assigned to locate a central route through
24888-524: The next day to Kentucky. The two shared many common interests, and began to explore the natural world around them. Though their finances were tenuous, the Audubons started a family. They had two sons, Victor Gifford (1809–1860) and John Woodhouse Audubon (1812–1862), and two daughters who died while still young, Lucy at two years (1815–1817) and Rose at nine months (1819–1820). Both sons eventually helped publish their father's works. John W. Audubon became
25071-482: The nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the present. Drawings and paintings range from preliminary studies to fully realized compositions. Most nineteenth-century prints originated as reproductions intended for dissemination to the public and depict subjects relevant to the American experience. Twentieth-century and later prints are fine art prints made by a variety of processes as a means of artistic self-expression. Prints that stem from early western surveys conducted by
25254-618: The only known figural composition by this American master of trompe-l'œil ("fool the eye") painting. A major historical genre painting by William T. Ranney (1813–1857) is in the Carter collection. Ranney's Marion Crossing the Pedee (1850) exhibits the artist's great skill as a figure painter and use of that skill to entertain and educate his nineteenth-century audience. Notable genre paintings by Conrad Wise Chapman (1842–1910), Francis William Edmonds (1806–1863), Thomas Hovenden (1840–1895), and Eastman Johnson (1824–1906) are also housed in
25437-707: The opportunity and expanded fur trading operations into the Pacific Northwest . Astor's " Fort Astoria " (later Fort George), at the mouth of the Columbia River, became the first permanent white settlement in that area, although it was not profitable for Astor. He set up the American Fur Company in an attempt to break the hold that the Hudson's Bay Company monopoly had over the region. By 1820, Astor had taken over independent traders to create
25620-432: The opportunity for commercial agriculture was low. These areas remained primarily in subsistence agriculture, and as a result, by the 1760s these societies were highly egalitarian , as explained by historian Jackson Turner Main: The typical frontier society, therefore, was one in which class distinctions were minimized. The wealthy speculator, if one was involved, usually remained at home, so that ordinarily no one of wealth
25803-443: The ornithologist's rule, which he wrote down as, "The nature of the place—whether high or low, moist or dry, whether sloping north or south, or bearing tall trees or low shrubs—generally gives hint as to its inhabitants." His father hoped that the lead mines on the property could be commercially developed, as lead was an essential component of bullets. This could provide his son with a profitable occupation. At Mill Grove, Audubon met
25986-420: The other phoebes on the property were "descended from the same stock", Audubon (1834:126) said that he tied silver threads to the legs of five nestlings: I took the whole family out, and blew off the exuviae of the feathers from the nest. I attached light threads to their legs: these they invariably removed, either with their bills, or with the assistance of their parents. I renewed them, however, until I found
26169-621: The owner of the nearby Fatland Ford estate, William Bakewell, and his daughter Lucy Bakewell . Audubon set about to study American birds, determined to illustrate his findings in a more realistic manner than most artists did then. He began drawing and painting birds, and recording their behavior. After an accidental fall into a creek, Audubon contracted a severe fever. He was nursed and recovered at Fatland Ford, with Lucy at his side. Risking conscription in France, Audubon returned in 1805 to see his father and ask permission to marry. He also needed to discuss family business plans. While there, he met
26352-489: The painting by Heade, Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay (1868), is considered by many observers to be the artist's masterpiece. Other Hudson River School artists represented in the collection by major oil paintings are Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821–1872), David Johnson (1827–1908), and Worthington Whittredge (1820–1910). William Stanley Haseltine (1835–1900) is represented by a preliminary study of rocky coastline along Narragansett Bay , Rhode Island. The influence of
26535-491: The partnership include those by Audubon: I John Audubon, having this day mutual consent with Ferdinand Rozier, dissolved and forever closed the partnership and firm of Audubon and Rozier, and having Received from said Ferdinand Rozier payment and notes to the full amount of my part of the goods and debts of the late firm of Audubon and Rozier, I the said John Audubon one of the firm aforesaid do hereby release and forever quit claim to all and any interest which I have or may have in
26718-399: The physical appearance of Deas' Native American subjects and the perils associated with their nomadic lifestyle (see picture gallery below). The Potter (1889) by George de Forest Brush (1855–1941) is another example in the Carter collection of an artist's exacting and nuanced method of depicting an indigenous American sitter. Attention Company! (1878) by William M. Harnett (1848–1892) is
26901-498: The population grew they pushed westward for fresh farmland. Unlike Britain, where a small number of landlords owned most of the land, ownership in America was cheap, easy and widespread. Land ownership brought a degree of independence as well as a vote for local and provincial offices. The typical New England settlements were quite compact and small, under a square mile. Conflict with the Native Americans arose out of political issues, namely who would rule. Early frontier areas east of
27084-414: The possession of lands more than they can cultivate, and more than adequate to their subsistence, comfort, and enjoyment, by cultivation. If this is a spirit of aggrandizement, the undersigned are prepared to admit, in that sense, its existence; but they must deny that it affords the slightest proof of an intention not to respect the boundaries between them and European nations, or of a desire to encroach upon
27267-455: The practice until the 1920 Census . Others, including the Library of Congress and University of Oxford , often cite differing points reaching into the early 1900s; typically within the first two decades before American entry into World War I . A period known as "The Western Civil War of Incorporation" lasted from the 1850s to 1919. This period includes historical events synonymous with
27450-401: The practice. By the 1910 U.S. census however, the frontier had shrunk into divided areas without a singular westward line of settlement. An influx of agricultural homesteaders in the first two decades of the 20th century, taking up more acreage than homestead grants in the entirety of the 19th century, is cited to have significantly reduced open land. A frontier is a zone of contact at
27633-587: The president of the Confederacy. Most frontiersmen showed little commitment to religion until traveling evangelists began to appear and to produce "revivals". The local pioneers responded enthusiastically to these events and, in effect, evolved their populist religions, especially during the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840), which featured outdoor camp meetings lasting a week or more and which introduced many people to organized religion for
27816-431: The president. Then when the population reached 100,000 the territory applied for statehood. Frontiersmen typically dropped the legalistic formalities and restrictive franchise favored by eastern upper classes and adopting more democracy and more egalitarianism. In 1810, the western frontier had reached the Mississippi River . St. Louis, Missouri , was the largest town on the frontier, the gateway for travel westward, and
27999-551: The region getting a bad reputation as the "Great American Desert", which discouraged settlement in that area for several decades. In 1811, naturalists Thomas Nuttall (1786–1859) and John Bradbury (1768–1823) traveled up the Missouri River documenting and drawing plant and animal life. Artist George Catlin (1796–1872) painted accurate paintings of Native American culture. Swiss artist Karl Bodmer made compelling landscapes and portraits. John James Audubon (1785–1851)
28182-550: The rivers. The steamboat, first used on the Ohio River in 1811, made possible inexpensive travel using the river systems, especially the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries. Army expeditions up the Missouri River in 1818–1825 allowed engineers to improve the technology. For example, the Army's steamboat " Western Engineer " of 1819 combined a very shallow draft with one of the earliest stern wheels. In 1819–1825, Colonel Henry Atkinson developed keelboats with hand-powered paddle wheels. The federal postal system played
28365-421: The skill of Kentucky riflemen and the "regulators", citizen lawmen who created a kind of justice on the Kentucky frontier. In his travel notes, he claims to have encountered Daniel Boone . The Audubon family owned several slaves while he was in Henderson, until they needed money at which point they were sold. Audubon was condemned contemporaneously by abolitionists . Audubon was dismissive of abolitionists in both
28548-633: The sources of western survey prints collected by the Carter. The Carter's nineteenth-century print collection also includes a copy of the landmark Hudson River Portfolio (1821–25) based on the work of painter William Guy Wall (1792–after 1864) and engraver John Hill (1770–1850); original copper plate etchings of Native Americans as depicted in field studies by Karl Bodmer (1809–1893); a complete set of planographic prints from George Catlin 's North American Indian Portfolio (1844); and ornithological prints from John James Audubon 's landmark book The Birds of America (published 1827–38). Examples of work in
28731-547: The spectacle ... It is a real and palpable vision of the New World." Audubon sold oil-painted copies of the drawings to make extra money and publicize the book. A potential publisher had Audubon's portrait painted by John Syme, who clothed the naturalist in frontier clothes; the portrait was hung at the entrance of his exhibitions, promoting his rustic image. The painting is now held in the White House art collection, and
28914-421: The state of nature, and to bring into cultivation every portion of the territory contained within their acknowledged boundaries. In thus providing for the support of millions of civilized beings, they will not violate any dictate of justice or humanity; for they will not only give to the few thousand savages scattered over that territory an ample equivalent for any right they may surrender, but will always leave them
29097-622: The steady breadwinner for the couple and their two young sons. Trained as a teacher, she conducted classes for children in their home. Later she was hired as a local teacher in Louisiana. She boarded with their children at the home of a wealthy plantation owner, as was often the custom of the time. In 1824, Audubon returned to Philadelphia to seek a publisher for his bird drawings. He took oil painting lessons from Thomas Sully and met Charles Bonaparte , who admired his work and recommended he go to Europe to have his bird drawings engraved. Audubon
29280-556: The stock on hand and debts due to the late firm of Audubon and Rozier assign, transfer and set over to said Ferdinand Rozier, all my rights, titles, claims and interest in the goods, merchandise and debts due to the late firm of Audubon and Rozier, and do hereby authorize and empower him for my part, to collect the same in any manner what ever either privately or by suit or suits in law or equity hereby declaring him sole and absolute proprietor and rightful owner of all goods, merchandise and debts of this firm aforesaid, as completely as they were
29463-505: The story of the creation and defense of communities, the use of the land, the development of crops and hotels, and the formation of states." They explain, "It is a tale of conquest, but also one of survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America." Turner himself repeatedly emphasized how the availability of "free land" to start new farms attracted pioneering Americans: "The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and
29646-864: The studios of William Clift (born 1944), Frank Gohlke (born 1942), and Mark Klett (born 1952). Fine art photographs by Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) are the collection's most significant works from the turn-of-the-twentieth-century Photo-Secession movement, a crusade which Stieglitz led. The work of the Photo-Secessionists and other leading photographers of the period is also documented in complete runs of Camera Notes (published 1897–1903), Camera Work (published 1903–1917), and 291 (published 1915–1916). Substantive holdings of twentieth-century documentary photographs include works by Berenice Abbott (1898–1991); prints produced over twenty-five years in connection with Dorothea Lange 's The American Country Woman photographic essay; Texas images from
29829-561: The study of American art, photography, and culture from Colonial times to the present, with an emphasis on materials that enhance understanding of objects in the museum's permanent art collection and the milieu in which these objects were created. The Carter library's microform holdings include 14,000 microfilm reels of nineteenth-century newspapers, periodicals, books, and other primary material. These holdings also include more than 50,000 microfiches of auction and exhibition catalogues, ephemera, and other material. Specific microform sets include
30012-400: The support of settlers and the general public who preferred that the military remain as close as possible. The frontier area was vast and even Davis conceded that "concentration would have exposed portions of the frontier to Native hostilities without any protection." Government and private enterprise sent many explorers to the West. In 1805–1806, Army lieutenant Zebulon Pike (1779–1813) led
30195-406: The territories of Great Britain. [...] They will not suppose that that Government will avow, as the basis of their policy towards the United States a system of arresting their natural growth within their territories, for the sake of preserving a perpetual desert for savages. As settlers poured in, the frontier districts first became territories, with an elected legislature and a governor appointed by
30378-407: The territory in terms of international law. Between 1803 and the 1870s, the federal government purchased the land from the Native tribes then in possession of it. 20th-century accountants and courts have calculated the value of the payments made to the Natives, which included future payments of cash, food, horses, cattle, supplies, buildings, schooling, and medical care. In cash terms, the total paid to
30561-512: The tribes in the area of the Louisiana Purchase amounted to about $ 2.6 billion, or nearly $ 9 billion in 2016 dollars. Additional sums were paid to the Natives living east of the Mississippi for their lands, as well as payments to Natives living in parts of the west outside the Louisiana Purchase. Even before the purchase, Jefferson was planning expeditions to explore and map the lands. He charged Lewis and Clark to "explore
30744-517: The woods, often returning with natural curiosities, including birds' eggs and nests, of which he made crude drawings. His father planned to make a seaman of his son. At twelve, Audubon went to military school and became a cabin boy. He quickly found out that he was susceptible to seasickness and not fond of mathematics or navigation. After failing the officer's qualification test, Audubon ended his incipient naval career. He returned to exploring fields again, focusing on birds. In 1803, his father obtained
30927-509: The work that started him on a long secondary career as a sculptor. 3) Frederic Remington, The Fall of the Cowboy (1895) -- an evocation of the fading of the mythic cowboy of legend, anticipating Owen Wister's celebrated novel, The Virginian (1902). 4) Charles M. Russell, Medicine Man (1908) -- a detailed portrait of a Blackfeet shaman, reflecting Russell's empathy with Native American culture. 5) Charles M. Russell, Meat for Wild Men (1924) --
31110-516: Was a lady from a Louisiana plantation. His mother died when he was a few months old, as she had suffered from tropical disease since arriving on the island. His father already had an unknown number of mixed-race children (among them a daughter named Marie-Madeleine), some by his mixed-race housekeeper, Catherine "Sanitte" Bouffard (described as a quadroon , meaning she was three-quarters European in ancestry). Following Jeanne Rabin's death, Audubon renewed his relationship with Sanitte Bouffard and had
31293-404: Was a remarkable accomplishment. It took more than 14 years of field observations and drawings, plus his single-handed management and promotion of the project to make it a success. A reviewer wrote, All anxieties and fears which overshadowed his work in its beginning had passed away. The prophecies of kind but overprudent friends, who did not understand his self-sustaining energy, had proved untrue;
31476-432: Was a resident. The class of landless poor was small. The great majority were landowners, most of whom were also poor because they were starting with little property and had not yet cleared much land nor had they acquired the farm tools and animals which would one day make them prosperous. Few artisans settled on the frontier except for those who practiced a trade to supplement their primary occupation of farming. There might be
31659-522: Was based on Rozier's buying half of Jean Audubon's share of a plantation in Haiti, and lending money to the partnership as secured by half interest in the lead mining. Audubon caught yellow fever upon arrival in New York City. The ship's captain placed him in a boarding house run by Quaker women who nursed Audubon to recovery and taught him English. He traveled with the family's Quaker lawyer to
31842-507: Was born in Les Cayes in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti ) on his father's sugarcane plantation . He was the son of Lieutenant Jean Audubon, a French naval officer (and privateer ) from the south of Brittany , and his mistress, Jeanne Rabine, a 27-year-old chambermaid from Les Touches , Brittany (now in the modern region Pays de la Loire ). They named him Jean Rabin. Another 1887 biographer has stated that his mother
32025-465: Was brimming with birds' eggs, stuffed raccoons and opossums, fish, snakes, and other creatures. He had become proficient at specimen preparation and taxidermy. Deeming the mining venture too risky, with his father's approval Audubon sold part of the Mill Grove farm, including the house and mine, and retaining some land for investment. In volume 2 of Ornithological Biography (1834), Audubon told
32208-484: Was developed. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 abolished slavery in the area north of the Ohio River and promised statehood when a territory reached a threshold population, as Ohio did in 1803 . The first major movement west of the Appalachian mountains originated in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina as soon as the Revolutionary War ended in 1781. Pioneers housed themselves in a rough lean-to or at most
32391-460: Was formed, and the Carters transferred much of their wealth into it for the purpose of providing seed money to support an array of civic causes. At the time the foundation was incorporated, Amon Carter had been actively collecting art by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell for a decade. American frontier The American frontier , also known as the Old West , and popularly known as
32574-660: Was lionized as "the American woodsman". He raised enough money to begin publishing his The Birds of America . This monumental work consists of 435 hand-colored, life-size prints of 497 bird species, made from engraved copper plates of various sizes depending on the size of the image. They were printed on sheets measuring about 39 by 26 inches (990 by 660 mm). The work illustrates slightly more than 700 North American bird species, of which some were based on specimens collected by fellow ornithologist John Kirk Townsend on his journey across America with Thomas Nuttall in 1834 as part of Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth 's second expedition across
32757-526: Was nominated for membership at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia by Charles Alexandre Lesueur , Reuben Haines , and Isaiah Lukens , on July 27, 1824. However, he failed to gather enough support, and his nomination was rejected by vote on August 31, 1824; around the same time accusations of scientific misconduct were levied by Alexander Lawson and others. With his wife's support, in 1826 at age 41, Audubon took his growing collection of work to England. He sailed from New Orleans to Liverpool on
32940-659: Was one of the museum's earliest goals. Documentary artists represented in the collection include John James Audubon (1785–1851), Karl Bodmer (1809–1893), George Catlin (1796–1872), Charles Deas (1818–1867), Seth Eastman (1808–1875), Edward Everett (1818–1903), Francis Blackwell Mayer (1827–1899), Alfred Jacob Miller (1810–1874), Peter Moran (1841–1914), Thomas Moran (1837–1926), Peter Rindisbacher (1806–1834), John Mix Stanley (1814–1872), William Guy Wall (1792–after 1864), Carl Wimar (1828–1862), and others. See Works on paper (below) for more information on American expeditionary art. The Hudson River School , one of
33123-425: Was thrown into jail for debt. The little money he earned was from drawing portraits, particularly death-bed sketches , greatly esteemed by country folk before photography. He wrote, "[M]y heart was sorely heavy, for scarcely had I enough to keep my dear ones alive; and yet through these dark days I was being led to the development of the talents I loved." Audubon worked for a brief time as the first paid employee of
33306-473: Was to surpass the earlier ornithological work of poet-naturalist Alexander Wilson . Though he could not afford to buy Wilson's work, Audubon used it to guide him when he had access to a copy. In 1818, Rafinesque visited Kentucky and the Ohio River valley to study fishes and was a guest of Audubon. In the middle of the night, Rafinesque noticed a bat in his room and thought it was a new species. He happened to grab Audubon's favourite violin in an effort to knock
33489-425: Was wide agreement on the need to settle the new territories quickly, but the debate polarized over the price the government should charge. The conservatives and Whigs, typified by the president John Quincy Adams , wanted a moderated pace that charged the newcomers enough to pay the costs of the federal government. The Democrats, however, tolerated a wild scramble for land at very low prices. The final resolution came in
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