The Mountain Man

Details

FREDERIC REMINGTON (1861-1909)
The Mountain Man
inscribed 'Copyright by/Frederic Remington' (on the base)—inscribed with foundry mark 'Roman Bronze Works N-Y-' (along the base)—inscribed 'No. 27' (beneath the base)
bronze with brownish black patina
28 ¼ in. (71.8 cm.) high
Modeled circa 1903; cast by 1916.

Provenance

Private collection, Keswick, Virginia.
Christie's, New York, 3 December 1993, lot 81, sold by the above.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Literature

H. McCracken, Frederic Remington: Artist of the Old West, New York, 1947, n.p., pl. 44, another example illustrated.
A.T. Gardner, American Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1965, pp. 74-75, no. 07.79, another example illustrated.
H. McCracken, Frederic Remington: A Pictorial History of the West, Garden City, New York, 1966, p. 263, fig. 370, another example illustrated.
The Paine Art Center and Arboretum, Frederic Remington: A Retrospective Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, exhibition catalogue, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 1967, n.p., no. 47, another example illustrated (as The Mountaineer (The Mountain Man)).
P.H. Hassrick, Frederic Remington: Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture in the Amon Carter Museum and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Collections, New York, 1973, pp. 194-95, another example illustrated.
B. Wear, The 2nd Bronze World of Frederic Remington, Upper Montclair, New Jersey, 1976, pp. 72-73, 107, pl. 9, J-2, another example illustrated.
Frederic Remington (1861-1909): Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture in the Collection of the R.W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, Louisiana, 1979, pp. 74-75, nos. 51-53, other examples illustrated.
Denver Art Museum, Frederic Remington: The Late Years, exhibition catalogue, Denver, Colorado, 1981, p. 60, another example illustrated.
M.E. Shapiro, Cast and Recast: The Sculpture of Frederic Remington, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1981, pp. 52, 77-81, 106, figs. 33, 69-74, other examples illustrated.
M.E. Shapiro, P.H. Hassrick, Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, New York, 1988, pp. 204-05, 210-11, 214, pl. 57, another example illustrated.
J.K. Ballinger, Frederic Remington, New York, 1989, p. 110, another example illustrated.
M.D. Greenbaum, Icons of the West: Frederic Remington's Sculpture, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, pp. 31, 105-12, 191, other examples illustrated.
Gerald Peters Gallery, Remington: The Years of Critical Acclaim, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1998, pp. 104-05, another example illustrated.
T. Tolles, ed., American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Volume I, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1865, New York, 1999, pp. 384-86, no. 166, another example illustrated.
E.B. Neff, W.H. Phelan, Frederic Remington: The Hogg Brothers Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas, 2000, pp. 27, 61n6, another example referenced.
B. Dippie, The Frederic Remington Art Museum Collection, Ogdensburg, New York, 2001, pp. 140-41, another example illustrated.

Conditions of sale

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Quincie Dixon Associate Specialist, Head of Sale

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Lot Essay

Conceived in 1903 as Frederic Remington's ninth model in bronze, The Mountain Man immortalizes a scene of frontier life in the Old West, as a trapper and horse sharply descend a rugged pass. In order to depict the movement of the horse accurately, the artist relied on his collection of photographs of military officers as well as a live model: his friend and military Rough Rider, General Leonard Wood, who had served in the Spanish-American War. Because Remington wished to emphasize the high, steep slope of the mountain path, The Mountain Man is several inches higher than his other bronzes.

Michael Greenbaum notes, “during Remington's lifetime, The Mountain Man was one of his most critically accepted works. It was one of two groups purchased in 1905 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art and one of four subjects bought in 1907 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It remains one of his most enduring sculptural works, a striking representational image of the frontier.” (Icons of the West: Frederic Remington's Sculpture, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, p. 107)

The present work is the twenty-seventh cast produced by Roman Bronze Works Foundry. Assigned a ledger date of November 30, 1916, the work was likely cast around that year. According to Greenbaum, “castings through approximately number 30 are distinguishable by their very fine detailing.” (Icons of the West, p. 105)

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