The West in Bronze: Analyzing the Market and Networks of Western American Bronze Sculptures, 1895 – 2019

THE WEST IN BRONZE: ANALYZING THE MARKET AND NETWORKS OF WESTERN AMERICAN BRONZE SCULPTURES, 1895 – 2019

A Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

Master of Arts

Interdisciplinary Studies

University of Regina

Kylie Rae Dahlstrom

Regina, Saskatchewan

May 2020

UNIVERSITY OF REGINA

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH

SUPERVISORY AND EXAMINING COMMITTEE

Kylie Rae Dahlstrom, candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, has presented a thesis titled, The West in Bronze: Analyzing the Market and Networks of Western American Bronze Sculptures, 1895-2019, in an oral examination held on April 13, 2020. The following committee members have found the thesis acceptable in form and content, and that the candidate demonstrated satisfactory knowledge of the subject material.

External Examiner: *Dr. Mark C. Anderson, Carleton University

Supervisor: *Dr. Francesco Freddolini, Department of Visual Arts

Committee Member: *Dr. Christine Ramsay, Department of Film

Committee Member: *Dr. Megan Smith, Department of Visual Arts

Chair of Defense: *Dr. Troni Grande, Department of English

*via ZOOM Conferencing ABSTRACT

This thesis examines the market growth of Western American bronze sculpture over the course of 124 years (1895-2019), from Frederic Remington’s Bronco Buster until now. The genre of Western American art is a highly marginalized genre that has received limited study, and the market analysis even less so. The research for this thesis was primarily conducted through the use of digital methodologies falling under the realm of the digital humanities and, in particular, digital art history. Such methodological approach, particularly productive for art market studies, brings to the fore quantitative data in relation to artist’s sales, dealer’s activities, auctions, and collectors’ interests that enable us to pose new questions in relation to the production of Western American sculpture throughout a large chronological span. Analysis of this data proves that although the work has a racist and nationalistic past, it is changing towards more inclusive iconographies, and the market networks are still growing and show no signs of slowing down.

2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Francesco Freddolini who guided me throughout this project. Thank you to my committee members Dr. Christine

Ramsay and Dr. Megan Smith for your assistance and support throughout the final and crucial stages of my research, and to Dr. Mark Anderson who took the time to assist as my external examiner. Thank you to the staff at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary Alberta for allowing me access to their private collection and archives, and to Dr. Ian Johnson and his team at the

University of Sydney for making the use of the Heurist Database possible. I would also like to thank Dr. Rae Staseson and Dr. Kathleen Irwin who provided additional support in the initial stages of my research. Finally, thank you to my family who provided immense support and encouragement to me throughout my life and academic career. Without your support and guidance, this thesis would not have been possible.

Table of Contents

Abstract…...... 2

Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………..3

Table of Contents...... 4

List of Figures...... 5

CHAPTER 1: Introduction...... 7 1.1 Literature Review……...... 22

CHAPTER 2: Digital Methodologies...... 26 2.1 Developing the Database...... 31

CHAPTER 3: Reading the Market for Western Bronze...... 46 3.1 Auctions, Value & the Collector…...... 54 3.2 The Calgary Stampede …………………………………………………………………….64 3.3 Publications, the Web & Social Media…………………………………………………….66

CHAPTER 4: Iconographies…………………….…...... 69 4.1 Wildlife …………...... 70 4.2 Cowboys and Rodeo ………...... 71 4.3 Indigenous……...…………………………………………………………………………...75 4.4 Western Lifestyle…………………………………………………………………………...79 4.5 Domestic Animals…………………………………………………………………………..80

CHAPTER 5: Conclusion…………………………………………………..…………………..82

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………..………………..84

4 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Frederic Remington, The Bronco Buster, 1895, Bronze, 32.5” (Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.)

Figure 2 Charlie Russell, Assiniboine Warrior, 1913 plaster model (cast in 1970 by Montana Historical Society), Bronze, 11” (Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.)

Figure 3 Frederic Remington, The Mountain Man, 1904, Bronze, 28” (Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.)

Figure 4 Veryl Goodnight, Back from the Brink, 2000, Bronze, 24” (Medicine Man Gallery, Phoenix, AZ. Photo by Veryl Goodnight, Mancos, CO.)

Figure 5 Creation of Heurist database.

Figure 6 Heurist database dashboard.

Figure 7 Heurist record types and fields.

Figure 8 Heurist record vocabulary.

Figure 9 Adding a record in Heurist.

Figure 10 Filtering database records.

Figure 11 Network graph in Heurist.

Figure 12 Gephi import.

Figure 13 Gephi show labels.

Figure 14 Gephi force atlas.

Figure 15 Gephi size and color adjustments.

Figure 16 Attraction strength in Gephi.

Figure 17 Gephi statistics panel.

Figure 18 Gephi graph degree range filter.

Figure 19 Gephi graph color adjustments.

Figure 20 Gephi show network Joe Beeler.

5 Figure 21 Gephi show network Veryl Goodnight.

Figure 22 Google my maps Artists/Organizations

Figure 23 Heurist iconography pricing table.

Figure 24 Google my maps organizations (1895-1945)

Figure 25 Google my maps organizations (1945-1980)

Figure 26 Google my maps organizations (1980-2000)

Figure 27 Google my maps organizations (2000-2019)

Figure 28 Charlie Russell, The Medicine Man, 1920, Bronze, 7” (Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.)

Figure 29 Frederic Remington, The Scalp, 1898, Bronze, 26.5” (Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.)

Figure 30 Top auction house record sales table.

Figure 31 Table showing artists whose pieces have sold at top auctions.

Figure 32 Table showing prices of the pieces sold featuring cowboy iconographies.

Figure 33 Dealer graph in Gephi (Altermann Galleries).

Figure 34 Artist connection graph in Gephi.

Figure 35 Scott Rogers, Rescue, 2003, Bronze, 27” (Sold to Private Collector, Photo by J. Levine Auctions, Phoenix, AZ.)

Figure 36 Richard Loffler, Buffalo Trail, 2012, Bronze, 65” (Private Collector, Photo by Richard Loffler, Regina, SK.)

Figure 37 Richard Loffler, Outlaw, 2009, Bronze, 33” (Private Collector, Regina, SK.)

Figure 38 Charlie Russell, Counting Coup, 1905, Bronze, 16” (Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX. Photo by Museum)

Figure 39 Doug Hyde, Candlelight Vigil, Bronze, 13” (Broadmoor Galleries, Colorado Springs, CO.)

Figure 40 Veryl Goodnight, No Turning Back, 1994, Bronze, 16” (Sold to Private Collector, Photo by Veryl Goodnight, Mancos, CO.)

6 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

There has been a limited research focus in art history on the art of the American West. A majority of research on the genre is limited to issues of style and iconography, failing to uncover what sets it apart from more popular genres.1 This situation stems from connections among a distinct audience who have always respected the work for being representational and figurative not succumbing to trends set by what is popular in the overall art market.2 Western American art has a place within the North American art market due to its appeal to collectors not interested in mainstream art consumption. Moreover, Western American art not only helps to increase interest in art collection but helps feed the artistic economy in both Canada and the United States.

Figure 1. Frederic Remington, The Bronco Buster, 1895, Bronze, 32.5” Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.

1 Brian Dippie, “Drawn to the West,” Western Historical Quarterly, 35: 1 (2004) 4-26; Dippie, “One West, One Myth: Transborder Continuity in Western Art,” American Review of Canadian Studies, 33: 4 (2003) 509-541; Dippie, “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,”Montana: The Magazine of Western History, 51:4 (2001) 68-71. 2 Brian Dippie, Conversation at Calgary Stampede Western Showcase, July 4, 2019; Laura Meyers, “Cowboy Art Corrals Collectors,” Art Business News, February, 2003; Peter H. Hasserick, “Where’s the Art in Western Art?” Ed, Peter H. Hasserick, Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on Western American Art (Denver: The Institute of Western American Art, 2007) 9.

7 To explore Western American art’s importance to the Canadian and American art market, the first research task for this thesis was to prove that the genre has an extensive network that has not only remained in Western America but has expanded overseas as well, with a variety of people taking an interest in the Western culture of North America. The second challenge was to develop or utilize a method that would work to find the answers to questions relating to areas such as iconography, value, collectability and market and explain them. To address such issues, digital humanities and, more specifically, digital art history offered valuable methods of inquiry. Digital humanities is still an emerging field and only came to be a widely utilized academic practice following the early 2000s.3 The ability to show these connections and other facts in a visual form using data organized through a database was an appealing concept because it was not a traditional research practice, and it would set this research apart from others.

It is important to understand how the terms “West” and “Western” can be understood within the body of this thesis. When many people think of the West, they think mainly of the various places in the United States such as Texas or Arizona, and they are not wrong. However, regionally the West encompasses parts in both Canada and the United States. In Canada, the locations associated with the West are Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and some of the Rocky

Mountain areas of British Columbia. The United States’ West is associated with Arizona,

California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota,

Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Even though we can pinpoint specific locations in the history of the West, when it comes to Western American art, the exact

3 Key sources include: Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, “What is Digital Humanities and What’s it Doing in English Departments?” ADE Bulletin 150 (2010); Johanna Drucker, “Is There a ‘Digital’ Art History?” Visual Resources 29:1-2 (2013): 5-13; Jacques Dubucs, “Digital Humanities Foundations,” New Publication Cultures in the Humanities: Exploring the Paradigm Shift, Ed. Peter Davidhazi, (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2014), 21-35; Earley-Spadoni, “Spatial History, Deep Mapping and Digital Storytelling,” Journal of Archaeological Science, 84 (2017): 95-102; Giacomo Mercuriali, “Digital Art History and the Computational Imagination,” DAH- Journal, 3 (2018): 140-151.

8 location is not often easy to define. Sculptures are near impossible to find a location for, unless we were to analyze the subject matter within it, for example, where a certain animal exists within the States or Provinces. This helps to make locations interchangeable with each other. The West in art is more of a state of mind than an actual regional area. Our ideas of the West have been brought to us through mediums of pop culture, such as film or literature. In the forward of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2014 publication, The American West in Bronze, Thomas P.

Campbell, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art states that the West is an “ever- shifting” and “endlessly fascinating place,” he then discusses some of the qualities associated with Western American art which include highly realistic images of “Indigenous peoples,

Cowboys, Wildlife, and Settlers” with historical themes surrounding “Euro-American settlement, relocation of Indigenous peoples, and the mass destruction of wildlife.”4 These ideologies as to how we frame the Western genre are the most current within our contemporary practices. Even though the historical representations are problematic due to racism and cultural appropriation5, contemporary artists within the genre are working to change and deconstruct those ideologies.

The marketability of Western American art to a specific demographic has been seen as an issue within the genre as many art historians have argued that artists only created the pieces for monetary profit and not to make any level of artistic statement.6 To some viewers, the negative implications some historical works have may not be evident at first glance. For many,

Remington’s Bronco Buster (Figure 1) was simply the instantiation of the “Taming of the West”

4 Thomas P. Campbell, “Forward.” The American West in Bronze, 1850-1925, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. VII. 5 Brian Dippie, “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History, 51:4 (2001): 68-71; Peter H. Hasserick, “Where’s the Art in Western Art?” 9; Brian Dippie, “In the Enemy’s Country: Western Art’s Uneasy Status” 14-16. 6 Dippie, Conversation at Calgary Stampede Western Showcase, July 4, 2019; Brian Rusted, “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede,” Icon, Brand, Myth: The Calgary Stampede, ed. Max Foran (Athabasca University Press, 2008) 272-273, 275-276.

9 theme. The cowboy represents Euro-Americans, while the Bronco represents the danger of the frontier. Nancy Tousley suggested that as the cowboy remains on the Bronco’s back, it shows the history of Euro-Americans overcoming the American frontier.7 This colonialist theme of triumph over nature is not only apparent in this sculpture, but in many other Remington pieces as well.

The marketability and problematic past of this work have been met with criticism such as interpretations that Remington’s work is the embodiment of the racial intolerance of his time and the general excitement felt by many Americans about the taming of the West and industrialization. However, even though it has experienced criticism, the main themes associated with the genre have not conformed to the trends of today’s popular art, as many sources concur.8

As we will see, despite the negative views of the genre, its iconographical types remain the same, but the way the artwork is presented to the market and displayed has changed.

As mentioned previously, the development of Western American bronze sculpture began with Remington’s Bronco Buster (Figure 1) in 1895. Although Remington had no formal training as a sculptor, it helped to set the standard for the genre.9 Remington’s work is also one of the main reasons for the issues surrounding Western American art. Although he was a skilled artist, some of the work he created and his attitude towards other cultures was highly racist.10 Even

7 Nancy Tousley. “Westen Art Worth $750,000 Given to Glenbow,” The Calgary Herald (June 1980); 8 Dippie, Conversation at Calgary Stampede Western Showcase July 4, 2019; Brian W. Dippie, “Drawn to the West,” Western Historical Quarterly, 35: 1 (2004): 4-26; David H. Murdoch, The American West: The Invention of a Myth (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2001); J. Gray Sweeney, “Part Two Imagining Race in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History, Ed. Kymberly N. Pinder, (New York: Routledge, 1979) 69; Patty Limerick, “Western American Art: Celebrating the Burden of Popularity” Ed, Peter H. Hasserick, Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on Western American Art (Denver: The Institute of Western American Art, 2007) 11-13; Brian W. Dippie, “In the Enemy’s Country: Western Art’s Uneasy Status” Ed, Peter H. Hasserick, Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on Western American Art (Denver: The Institute of Western American Art, 2007) 14-16. 9 Christine Bold, “The Rough Riders at Home and Abroad: Cody, Roosevelt, Remington and the Imperialist Hero,” The Canadian Review of American Studies, 18:3 (1987): 321-350; Sandra K. Winkler, “Masculine Identity and Culture in the Work of Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell and John Ford,” (Thesis. Long Beach: California State University, 2010). 10 J. Gray Sweeney, “Part Two Imagining Race in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History, Ed. Kymberly N. Pinder, (New York: Routledge, 1979) 69.

10 Remington’s contemporary Charlie Russell was guilty of some intolerance and established an inaccurate view of Indigenous people, not necessarily out of spite but out of ignorance, so his work would sell.11 Although Russell believed that his paintings and sculptures were accurate representations of the reality of his time, we can see the racist bias today, and even though he was sympathetic towards First Nations people, he exploited their struggles in his work.12

Russell was around to experience the Montana advocacy for the forcible removal of the

Indigenous people in the area, which would have relocated them to Canada. The attempt failed, and in 1916 Russell helped to establish Rocky Boy’s Reservation North of his own home in

Great Falls.13 Although the work of both these artists appears to reflect a negative beginning for the genre from our current perspective, contemporary work has evolved with time to become more inclusive. Artists are beginning to investigate historical culturally accurate attire for their subjects, and some Indigenous artists are representing their own cultures to tell their stories, such as Doug Hyde, who is of Nez Perce, Chippewa, and Assiniboine ancestry.14 Nevertheless, out of the Western bronzes created between 1895 and 1989 that feature Indigenous peoples, over 100 could be argued to perpetuate a colonial gaze which can be seen as a dehumanization of

Indigenous people by artists who created the pieces and collectors who purchased them.15

11 Sweeney, “Part Two Imagining Race in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” 69; Sandra K. Winkler, “Masculine Identity and Culture in the Work of Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell and John Ford” 12 Sweeney, “Part Two Imagining Race in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” 69; Winkler, “Masculine Identity and Culture in the Work of Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell and John Ford”; Dippie, “In the Enemy’s Country: Western Art’s Uneasy Status” 14-16. 13 John Taliaferro and Charles Marion Russell, “The West That Has Passed,” Charles M. Russell: The Life and Legend of America's Cowboy Artist, (Oklahoma City: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003) 187; John Phillip Well- Off-Man, “The History of Chief Rocky Boy and His Band and the Founding of Rocky Boy Reservation,” (Thesis. Missoula, MT. University of Montana, 2007) 12. 14 Doug Hyde, Doug Hyde Interview, Briscoe Western Art Museum, 2014, https://vimeo.com/89954051; Bill Nebeker and Doug Hyde, Cultural Connections with Bill Nebeker and Doug Hyde, Smoki Art Museum, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMV1UDODa1w&t=2117s 15 Carmen J. Nielson, “Caricaturing Colonial Space: Indigenized, Feminized Bodies and Anglo-Canadian Identity, 1873–94,” The Canadian Historical Review, 96: 4 (December 2015): 477-506; Robert L. Nelson, “Review: Emptiness in the Colonial Gaze: Labor, Property, and Nature,” International Labor and Working-Class History

11 Every collector has their reasons for purchasing Western American art; it is not known if there is a pattern between collectors and their motivations, but it is likely connected with feelings of nostalgia attached to the work.16 Even though it is not precisely known why collectors of

Western American art purchase these bronzes, there are apparent trends based on iconography, and this emerges from a database created through "Heurist," an open-source platform software that will be discussed later in this text. My research demonstrates that the collectors of Western

American art are not just inspired by a wish to increase social status. Collectors of Western

American art are passionate about the process of acquiring exciting new works, similar to collectors of the more mainstream and expensive art genres. The process of collecting is highly competitive,17 but it also expands social networks and develops business connections.

Interestingly, collectors of Western American art differ from other art collectors in that their focus is not just on artworks such as sculpture or paintings, but it extends to the entire material culture world of the West, including other utility driven objects as well, such as saddles, buckles, or posters.18 The interchangeability of material desires of Western American art collectors makes these individuals more difficult to predict in terms of what they would purchase at a sale. These collectors see the detail that the artisans and artists put into all works of Western American culture as a type of art. Even though an item may not be created in a traditional medium, it is still considered to be a work of art to these individuals. As mentioned previously, the Western

79 (Spring 2011): 161-172; Kylie Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database 2019. 16 Dippie, “Drawn to the West,” Western Historical Quarterly, 35: 1 (2004): 4-26; Meyers, “Cowboy Art Corrals Collectors” Art Business News, (February 2003) 57-64; Lisa Penaloza, “Consuming the American West: Animating Cultural Meaning and Memory at a Stock Show and Rodeo,” Journal of Consumer Research, 28 (December 2001): 369-398; Rusted, “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede”; Tom Wilmes, “The Art of Utility,” American Cowboy, (October-November 2012). 17 Russell Belk, Collecting in a Consumer Society (Abdington: Taylor and Francis 1995): 67. 18 Meyers, “Cowboy,” 57-64; Tom Wilmes, “The Art of Utility,” American Cowboy (October-November 2012), 72- 75.

12 American art collector almost always has feelings of nostalgia19 that involve a longing for the

West that never was. In other circumstances, if the collector comes from a farming or rural background, this nostalgia is reminiscent of a past of which they may often only remember the best parts.20

As Susan Pearce has pointed out, what people collect often relates to their own lives and past.21 The collectors explored in this thesis are interested in Western American art and memorabilia because of a sense of disconnection from their own roots. The objects they collect give them a feeling of reconnection with their past through contrived or real memory. This genre shares many of the same qualities that the European Sporting art market has.22 It is a niche market and the collectors often focus on specific iconography rather than a particular artist.

Through the purchase and collection of these works, the Western American art collector helps feed the economy of display and consumption, which is shared with other genres.23

The collectability of Western bronze has changed over the years. Initially, the primary consumers of Western American art were wealthy Easterners who had likely never set foot in the

West but still longed to share in the adventure they thought they were missing out on, their interest came through reading dime novels and other items of popular culture.24 These collectors

19 Olivia Ange and David Berliner, Anthropology and Nostalgia (New York: Berghahn Books, 2015); William Cronon, George Miles and Jay Gitlin, Under an Open Sky (New York: W. W. Norton, 1992); Fred Davis, Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia (New York: The Free Press, 1979); Meyers, “Cowboy Art Corrals Collectors”; Penaloza, “Consuming the American West: Animating Cultural Meaning and Memory at a Stock Show and Rodeo” 369-398; Rusted, “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede,” 272-273, 275-276; Susan Stewart, On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection; Gillian Turnbull, “Authorship and Nostalgia in Contemporary Cowboy Repertoire,” Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies 16:1(2016): 58-67; Wilmes, “The Art of Utility.” 20 Penaloza, “Consuming the American West: Animating Cultural Meaning and Memory at a Stock Show and Rodeo,” 369-398; Rusted. “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede,” 272-273, 275-276. 21 Susan Pearce, Museums, Objects, and Collections, (New York: Smithsonian Press 1992): 43 22 Nina Platt, “Content and Value in the Secondary Sporting Art Market,” Thesis, (New York: Sotheby’s Institute of Art, 2011): 17-20. 23 Rusted, “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede,” 272-273, 275-276. 24 Christine Bold, “The Rough Riders at Home and Abroad: Cody, Roosevelt, Remington and the Imperialist Hero,” The Canadian Review of American Studies, 18:3, (1987): 321-350; Dippie, “Drawn to the West,” Western Historical

13 believed that the West was characterized by the two dominant stereotypes of First Nations people at this time:

1) Rogue natives who appeared wild and fearsome and would steal from any cowboy who passed through their territory.

2) The noble savage, well-formed and beautiful, with outstanding regalia, who was there to help if not serve the white men in need.25

They also tended to romanticize that the old West included cowboys running their horses through the streets daily and that wildlife was abundant at every twist and turn, dangerous and majestic.

President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was an earlier Western bronze collector.

However, he is an interesting example of an easterner noted to have collected the works not to impress his friends and colleagues, but instead because he liked the sculpture or painting.26 He inspired others to collect Western bronze sculptures and his social status helped boost the reputation of artists such as Remington.27 Many of the pieces Roosevelt collected can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Another well-known collector of Western bronze was Ed Trumble (1924-2018), a self- made businessman who grew up in Nebraska and had lived a Western experience since childhood.28 He was the founder of the Leanin’ Tree greeting card company and, like Roosevelt,

Quarterly, 35: 1 (2004): 4-26; Murdoch, The American West: The Invention of a Myth; Winkler, “Masculine Identity and Culture in the Work of Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell and John Ford.” 25 Sweeney, “Part Two Imagining Race in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” 69. 26 Shannon Vittoria, Theodore Roosevelt: Patron of American Western Bronzes, The Met Museum (2014) https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/the-american-west-in-bronze/blog/posts/roosevelt; Bold, “The Rough Riders at Home and Abroad: Cody, Roosevelt, Remington and the Imperialist Hero,” 321-350. 27 Bold, “The Rough Riders at Home and Abroad: Cody, Roosevelt, Remington and the Imperialist Hero,” 321-350; Shannon Vittoria, “Theodore Roosevelt: Patron of American Western Bronzes,” The Met Museum, 2014. 28 John Bear, “Boulder’s Leanin’ Tree Museum to close after 40 years,” Boulder Daily Camera (2017) https://www.denverpost.com/2017/03/17/boulder-leanin-tree-museum-close-ed-trumble/; Susan Hallsten McGarry, “Ed Trumble - Collector Extraordinaire,” SouthWest Art Magazine (2008) https://www.southwestart.com/articles- interviews/feature-articles/collector_extraordinaire

14 gave many artists a start in the genre by recognizing skill and uniqueness within their work and promoting them.29

In Canada, John and Margaret Davidson were influential in expanding the Western

American art collection at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta. Their generous donation in

1980 and then again in 1991 brought in numerous sculptures and paintings, including works by

Remington and Russell.30 They did not live a Western lifestyle. However, their experience of living in Western Canada and attending the Calgary Stampede in its early days gave them a sense of connection with the work they collected. Donations by collectors such as the ones by the

Davidson family have had an extreme impact on the presence of Western American art in public institutions. There is not much information as to specific reasons why collectors donate their prized collections. But tax benefits that come from large donations are one of the most popular assumptions about donors’ motivations.31 Research analyzing donation documents at the

Glenbow Museum in Calgary suggested that collectors like the Davidsons had good relationships with museums and galleries before their donations. These collectors want others to be able to experience the work that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to see.32 The Davidsons wanted to share the artwork created by Remington and Russell, and at the time of donation, the collection was worth over $750,000.33 That initial value has increased over the years due to increased demand for this genre of work. An estimate based on the highest prices of these items have just three of the Davidsons bronze donations valued at over 1.5 million: 34 Bronco Buster (1895)

29 Bear, “Boulder’s Leanin’ Tree Museum to close after 40 years,” Boulder Daily Camera (2017); Susan Hallsten McGarry, “Ed Trumble - Collector Extraordinaire,” SouthWest Art Magazine (2008). https://www.southwestart.com/articles-interviews/feature-articles/collector_extraordinaire 30 Nancy Tousley, “Westen Art Worth $750,000 Given to Glenbow,” Donation Documents from the Davidson’s archive file, accessed July 4, 2019; Conversation with Travis Lutley at Glenbow on July 4, 2019. 31 Conversation with Travis Lutley at Glenbow on July 4, 2019. 32 Tousley. “Westen Art Worth $750,000 Given to Glenbow.” 33 Tousley. “Westen Art Worth $750,000 Given to Glenbow.” 34 Tousley. “Westen Art Worth $750,000 Given to Glenbow.”

15 (Figure 1) and The Mountain Man (1904) (Figure 3) by Remington; and Assiniboine Warrior

(1913) (Figure 2) by Russell. This gives an idea of what the Davidsons initial donation of 21 bronze sculptures and 22 paintings might be worth in today’s market.35

Figure 2. Charlie Russell, Assiniboine Warrior, 1913 plaster model (cast in 1970 by Montana Historical Society), Bronze, 11” Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.

Figure 3. Frederic Remington, The Mountain Man, 1904, Bronze, 28” Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.

35 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Database

16 Collectors of Western American art have a strong sense of community within their networks.36 Certain events have been created by galleries and show committees to surround sale events in order to increase the public’s awareness of Western American art and to extend the sales. These events often include seminars, artist talks, dinners, and friendly competitions.

“Western Art Week” which takes place in Great Falls, Montana every March and surrounds “The

Russell” art auction is a prime example. In 2019 between March 20th -24th, it held eight art shows/sales, parties and cocktail receptions, one educational symposium, three fashion shows, three antique/décor/collectible shows and four auctions. These events are networking opportunities for collectors, dealers, and artists.37 Collectors, dealers and artists alike all want the genre to thrive, so they take every opportunity to educate those willing to listen about what makes the work unique and essential. They cannot apologize for the previous misconceptions and false steps in representation—Remington’s racism and Russell’s cultural ignorance—but they can open meaningful conversations about the work and improve on the genre for future generations.

There is still room to grow when it comes to specific iconographies that are not equally represented within collections such as sculptures of women and Indigenous people, but the fact that currently there are sculptors working within the genre who are from both these groups is helping to advance and revise the genre, as these artists are representing themselves and/or their culture and gender through their own vision, and not from the sexist or racist perspectives of others. Thus, collectors who choose to purchase contemporary bronzes are choosing to purchase

36 Donna Livingstone, Fred Fellows, Emily Wilson, and Brian Dippie, Return to Calgary: Charlie Russell and the 1919 Victory Stampede Seminar, Calgary, July 4, 2019; Meyers, “Cowboy Art Corrals Collectors,”; Wilmes, “The Art of Utility.”; James (Jim) Balestrieri, Email Conversation, November 14, 2019. 37 Tracy Rosenbaum, “An Art Lover’s Guide to Western Art Week in Great Falls March 20 – 24,” Great Falls Tribune, March 18, 2019.

17 a truer image of the West. The two foremost artists who have made significant changes within the genre are Veryl Goodnight, and Doug Hyde (Nez Perce/Chippewa/Assiniboine). Both artists have created pieces that have been sought out by collectors, and they have received honours that traditionally were only accorded to artists who were white males.38 Though Doug Hyde is best known for his stone sculpture, he has added new twists to contemporary Western bronze sculpture by applying simplification techniques that are typically only seen in stone sculpture. He replicates the softness of the stone with his bronze, giving consistency within his work and making it recognizable to his collectors. The simplification techniques, along with the complexity of his patinas, are unique for the Western genre.39

Figure 4. Veryl Goodnight, Back from the Brink, 2000, Bronze, 24” Medicine Man Gallery, Phoenix, AZ. Photo by Veryl Goodnight, Mancos, CO.

38 April Baer, “Native Artist Creates New Bronze Statue for Joseph’s Main Street,” Oregon Public Broadcasting (2019). https://www.opb.org/news/article/doug-hyde-sculpture-joseph-oregon/; Medicine Man Gallery. “Veryl Goodnight Profile,” Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ. https://www.medicinemangallery.com/veryl-goodnight- biography 39 Medicine Man Gallery, “Doug Hyde Profile” Tucson AZ, Medicine Man Gallery. https://www.medicinemangallery.com/doug-hyde-biography

18 Veryl Goodnight, is also well known for her use of coloured patinas, and she has achieved what many women within the genre could not: building a reputation around her work and bringing attention to other female sculptors and staying true to the way she wanted her West to be shown.40 Although, like many other Western artists, she sculpts an ideal and romanticized

West, she shows women at the forefront and not in the shadow of men. Her famous piece Back from the Brink (2000) (Figure 4) shows a pioneer woman feeding a Bison calf in her flowing dress. The bronze is a tribute to Veryl’s ancestor Mary Ann Goodnight who persuaded her husband to bring in two calves that would help to restore the herds in the North and South of

America.41 Although it is challenging to find any auction records for this bronze, six monumental version copies exist in public areas across the United States.42

The study of the collecting process within the genre of Western American bronze also raises questions of its marketability, such as how the pieces are sold and distributed, and the various networks that exist within these sales. As mentioned earlier, there has been little research into the market for Western American art and why it is collectible from the perspective of specific audiences. My thesis, rather than merely focusing on the qualitative analysis of the genre, uses new digital methods of quantitative analysis to bring fresh insights and advance the field. Heurist, a program designed at the University of Sydney, is an open-source platform which has given me the ability to draw conclusions and ask questions about the genre and its market, as well as allowed for the discovery of new information during the creation of the database that may

40 Medicine Man Gallery, “Veryl Goodnight Profile”; James Nottage, Christine Mollring, and Veryl Goodnight, No Turning Back: The Art of Veryl Goodnight (Mancos: Goodnight Fine Art Ltd. 2011). 41 Nottage, Mollring, and Goodnight, No Turning Back: The Art of Veryl Goodnight; National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, Mary Ann (Molly) Goodnight 1991 inductee text, Fort Worth TX, National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, http://www.cowgirl.net/portfolios/mary-ann-molly-goodnight/ 42 Medicine Man Gallery, “Veryl Goodnight: Back from the Brink” Tucson AZ, Medicine Man Gallery, https://www.medicinemangallery.com/back-from-the-brink-monumental.html

19 not have ever been asked or considered before the database’s creation, which ultimately helped me to ask questions and draw conclusions.

When previous research on Western American art occurred, digital tools either did not exist or were still in their infancy. Therefore, scholars were forced to focus on specific pieces and draw conclusions based on what they had discovered from that limited analysis. By contrast, developing a database in Heurist has allowed the compilation of hundreds of records to be examined all at once. The tools of the digital humanities have not only made research convenient for art historians, but they have enabled a new way of thinking about art and helped to develop a new methodology for researching it.43 Although the long hours of developing the database are often complicated, the use of databases and other digital tools following the input of data is user- friendly.

Digital humanities is a field that is constantly changing and it is difficult to pinpoint an exact definition for the practice, but the best definition that fits within my own research for this thesis comes from Matthew G. Kirschenbaum who defined the digital humanities as “a field of research concerned with the intersection of computing and the disciplines of the humanities… It involves investigation, analysis, synthesis and presentation of information in electronic form.”44

Digital humanities practices allow for a deeper reading of subject matter based on raw data that the user provides. Digital humanities methods are not new and have been around for almost twenty years, however, the use of these practices for research on Western American art have been largely unrecognized within the genre, until now.

43 Pamela Fletcher and Anne Helmreich. “Local/Global: Mapping Nineteenth-Century London's Art Market”, 19th Century Art Worldwide, 11:3 (Autumn 2012) 44 Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, “What is Digital Humanities and What’s it Doing in English Departments?” ADE Bulletin 150 (2010)

20 Art historians who embrace the technological tools available for research are finding that when matched with their literary resources, these tools are assisting discovering new facts.45

Johanna Drucker, a leading voice in the digital humanities, compares the upward trend of the use of digital tools in art historical research to the shift in the 1980s, when the traditions of art history were altered in terms of theory and method.46 Although she believes the digital shift has been slow to evolve, it is only a matter of time before many more art historians are on board. The definition of the digital humanities is tricky in that many people believe that through uploading images on the internet and acquiring simple metadata facts about specific items, that one is doing digital humanities research; but it is actually in the study of this uploaded data that researchers can consider their work to be making a contribution to the digital humanities.47 The activities that could be considered part of digital humanities research could be anything from digital mapping to data mining and even visual reconstruction.48 All of these can be extremely useful in advancing humanities and art history research past the point of analysis and opinion and into establishing what is and what is not factually based about a specific topic.49 My research is situated in the digital humanities through a focus on data mining/mapping and, more specifically, visual data analysis. Interpretation of large sets of data has been made possible by programs that have allowed the import of information found through auction catalogues and price guides. As the program executed an algorithm to show connections and organize this data, it offered the

45 Drucker, “Is There a ‘Digital’ Art History?” 5-13; Dubucs, “Digital Humanities Foundations,” 21-35; Earley- Spadoni, “Spatial History, Deep Mapping and Digital Storytelling,” 95-102; Mercuriali, “Digital Art History and the Computational Imagination,” 140-151. 46 Drucker, “Is There a ‘Digital’ Art History?” 5-13. 47 Drucker, “Is There a ‘Digital’ Art History?” 5-13; Benjamin Zweig, “Forgotten Genealogies: Brief Reflections on the History of Digital Art History,” DAH-Journal 1 (2015): 39-49 48 Drucker, “Is There a ‘Digital’ Art History?” 5-13. 49 Drucker, “Is There a ‘Digital’ Art History?” 5-13; Dubucs, “Digital Humanities Foundations,” 21-35; Earley- Spadoni, “Spatial History, Deep Mapping and Digital Storytelling,” 95-102; Mercuriali, “Digital Art History and the Computational Imagination,” 140-151.

21 power of visualization of various connections and the ability to draw conclusions based on these visuals the program created. Because digital art history research focuses on raw data it can be challenging to perform interpretation of artwork. This is one of the reasons why it was decided to focus on the market for American Western bronzes and not the analysis or interpretation of them.

Having introduced the contexts of the bronze in American Western American art and the value of applying strategies of the digital humanities to its analysis, it will be useful to establish and briefly review the relevant key authors and the literature underpinning my analysis.

1.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

The inspiration for this thesis stems from the research of scholars who have focused mainly on Western American paintings rather than sculpture. These historians have focused on the creation of these works as opposed to the collection and market for them. The collection and market of Western American art have not been a popular topic in recent years. These subjects have been avoided because Western American art is a marginalized genre criticized for its exploitation and commerciality.50 The themes and ideas which frequently appear in works of other scholars include romanticism, representation, nationalism and nostalgia. To draw their conclusions, researchers such as Brian Dippie, Brian Rusted, and J. Gray Sweeney have focused on specific examples from the history of the genre rather than analyzing a larger set of works from the earliest period (1895) to contemporary works of today. The reason for this is likely because access to some of these works is limited, so analysis would be difficult. By using databases I was able to analyze over 700 sculptures at once, tools like this available for research when it comes to the market, make it easier to see the shared qualities of these works based on

50 Hasserick, “Where’s the Art in Western Art?” 9.

22 primary data without having to view each one individually. These tools are digital and rely on this raw data to assist researchers in creating visualizations that answer their questions about specific topics. Many scholars have adopted the digital humanities approach as a method because it because it offers the opportunity to work with large sets of data, instead of focusing on case studies. Johanna Drucker, Pamela Fletcher and Anne Helmreich have used these tools successfully in their studies and have brought recognition and awareness of the method to art history research.51 Digital art history expands the broader subject area of digital humanities, and it is helping to create interdisciplinarity within the field of art history.

In his article “Drawn to the West,” Brian Dippie reflects on aspects of the idea of the west which have made it a topic of interest over the years. Drawing on and expanding ideas from his earlier articles, such as “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect” and “One West, One Myth,”52

Dippie suggests the main reason for its previous marginalization comes from its past, in which artists representing it, such as Frederic Remington, romanticized the taming of the West and its violence, as noted above. And, although artists such as Russell offered a “sympathetic vision,” they were still viewed as “triumphalist” and were seen as having an “imperialist nostalgia.”53 As the most well-known authority on Western American art, Brian Dippie has provided insight on the genre which, while it has not been decidedly contested over the years, has not evolved past analysis of the old masters. This state of static presents a problem for arguing the genre’s advancement in recent years. Brian Rusted, in contrast, has analyzed the more contemporary pieces in relation to their connection with the Calgary Stampede and also Western American

51 Fletcher and Helmreich. “Local/Global: Mapping Nineteenth-Century London's Art Market.” 52 Brian Dippie, “Drawn to the West,” Western Historical Quarterly, 35:1 (2004): 4-26; Dippie, “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,” 68-71. 53 Dippie, “Drawn to the West,” Western Historical Quarterly, 35:1 (2004): 4-26; Dippie, “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,” 68-71

23 art’s boundary-crossing into mediums other than paintings, sculpture, and film, and suggested that the Stampede has subtly changed due to artists attempting to make it relevant to our contemporary lives.54 While these two scholars are advocates for the genre, J. Gray Sweeny brings to attention the genre’s negative aspects, which have left many art historians and critics skeptical about the genre’s status. The blatant racism of Remington, the sympathetic but ignorant representations by Russell, and many earlier contemporaries of these artists following in the footsteps of romantic nationalism, do not present a flattering case for the genre.55

Despite the negative qualities of the genre’s past, Western American art is collectable, artists are still producing new work, and galleries and auctions are still selling historical and contemporary bronzes, paintings and other pieces. The art market and sale dynamics are explored for a variety of genres but not Western American art specifically. The closest thing that exists to an accurate description of the Western American art market by any scholar is Brian

Rusted’s “A Wonderful Picture,” in Max Foran’s Icon, Brand, Myth: The Calgary Stampede. In this chapter, Rusted explains how the Calgary Stampede has acted in different capacities over the years as an exhibitor, commissioner, patron, and collector and how today it functions as all four.56 These roles are important because, as an organization, the Calgary Stampede has inspired many other Western American art events around America, while speaking to the interchangeability of Western American art among the various frontiers. The fact that Russell was attached to the event also had something to do with its early success.

54 Brian Rusted, The Art of the Calgary Stampede. 2010.; Rusted. “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede.” 286-288. 55 J. Gray Sweeney. “Part Two Imagining Race in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries”, Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History. Ed. Kymberly N. Pinder, (New York: Routledge, 1979) 69; Dippie, “In the Enemy’s Country: Western Art’s Uneasy Status” 14-16. 56 Rusted. “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede.” 280-286.

24 Quantitative research methods are not typical research methodologies when it comes to analyzing Western American art. However, the success of Anne Helmreich and Pamela

Fletcher’s use of digital methods to use raw data from sale records of British art in the

Nineteenth century was the inspiration to go outside of traditional methodologies and adapt their methods to the research for this thesis. In their article “Local/Global: Mapping Nineteenth-

Century London’s Art Market,” they explain that their research is collaborative, which is important to note because digital projects that incorporate large sets of data are complicated to do as a solo project. Working alone using digital techniques is possible but time-consuming. The problem that the digital method helped Helmreich and Fletcher solve is that even though the data is fragmented, the connections found from other cases help to patch together missing pieces.57

I will now turn to an in depth analysis of my research question involving tracing the marketing of the bronze in the West through techniques of the digital humanities, which I have organized as follows: Chapter 2: Digital Methodologies explains the research method, the process of creating the database and how it was used to help explore the information discovered.

Chapter 3: Reading the Market for Western bronze explicates the market for Western bronze, how it started, and how it has changed. Chapter 4: Iconographies analyzes the various iconographies and how they are viewed within the spectrum of Western bronze, followed by the concluding summary in Chapter 5.

57 Fletcher and Helmreich, “Local/Global: Mapping Nineteenth-Century London's Art Market.”

25 CHAPTER 2: DIGITAL METHODOLOGIES

Part of digital humanities research includes spatial analysis. Spatial analysis in digital art history often tracks the movement of institutions, artists, and artworks across various locations.58

By implementing spatial analysis in my research, the open-source software known as Heurist allowed for importation and visibility of data records to discover facts based on the geographical placement of sculptors, their work, and galleries/auctions over time. Though Heurist was an excellent tool to use for this in the early stages of research, in subsequent phases, the ability to get a clearer image was realized by importing the Heurist data into external graphing and mapping programs. Something cost-effective, yet aesthetically appealing, for maps was desired, so it was decided that tools offered by My Maps59 in Google would be used and then Gephi60 for the graphing and network analysis component. Gephi allowed the creation of a larger and less cluttered graph than Heurist had built into its platform, and this was helpful to be able to see the smaller groupings without having to expand everything within a small box.

Digital humanities tools are useful for art historians focusing on market research. These tools improved my access to information on Western bronze sculpture and its relevant market, while providing new methods to interpret the artwork. They also aided in the interpretation of timelines, geographical information and value. These tools, however, have been useful to this research on Western bronze and its market because they provided the ability to see all the facts and data in one central location. This research became more than an interpretation of the artwork.

It became an interpretation of timelines, geographical information, value, patterns, and networks.

58 Pamela Fletcher, “Reflections on Digital Art History,” CAA Reviews, 2015. 59 Google Maps (Online), Google Maps, 2009, https://www.google.ca/maps 60 M. Bastian, S. Heymann, M. Jacomy, Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks, International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, 2009.

26 This project, through access to these tools, became less of an analysis of the objects and more of an interpretation of the people who produce, sell, and purchase it.

The resources which helped develop this database were auction records, which to some extent, already were part of an existing auction database titled Ask Art.61 However, once the research delved more deeply into the topic, it was apparent that many of the records were inaccurate: for example, there were double records due to alternate spelling and two names for one bronze. There was, unfortunately, no pre-existing database specifically for Western

American art, and that is likely why there were so many inaccuracies within the database. Ask

Art helped provide the auction prices for many bronze sculptures, but it was important to make sure the details were correct. This part of the research required engagement with primary resources—the original auction results source—a time consuming but crucial phase of this research. The decision to create a new database stemmed from the consideration that a level of control existed for the information within and that it could be made to function in a desired way, as a tool for thinking with, rather than just a list of information.62 The creation of an entirely new database brought up new questions regarding the work and its circulation. Among the questions that arose were;

1) Who have the leading players been on the Western American art market?

2) What is the top location for Western American art collection?

3) Has there been a shift in collectors’ taste over the years?

The database allowed visibility of market growth on both a chronological and geographical scale.

This was helpful because it was the start of being able to draw connections and prove or disprove facts, which until this point had only been theories regarding the genre. This database also

61 AskART.com (Online), askART, 2000, http://askart.com/ 62 Pamela Fletcher, “Reflections on Digital Art History.”

27 provided visual proof which was assisted by connecting the database with Gephi.63 Gephi offered the opportunity to analyze various networks by singling out different artists, auctions/dealers, and bronzes to view the connections of each.

Heurist was developed at the University of Sydney by Dr. Ian Johnson. Initially created as an open-source program for scholars; it has gone beyond that to include certain services users can purchase to create their databases faster.64 What makes Heurist different to other programs is it is explicitly created for humanities rather than scientific research. It did not require me to use coding for it to function correctly. The program enables users to use one platform for all their research questions and by being an open-source platform, it allows researchers to show their discoveries to colleagues remotely for free, as opposed to other platforms such as Omeka or

Tableau, which often charge for separate accounts in order to have full functionality.65 The functions relevant to this thesis research were the database’s ability to create maps, timelines, and network diagrams that could connect to Gephi software.

Digital humanities research is usually a combined effort with individuals who focus on gathering the information, building digital tools, and interpreting the data.66 The teamwork allows for quicker results, but communication needs to be precise and thorough, or mistakes can happen. Solo projects leave less room for mistakes but are more time-consuming and the only option for this study was a solo project.

When designing the database, what was considered was the most important information that would help answer the questions mapped out previously. There were two categories that had to be considered;

63 Bastian, Heymann, Jacomy, Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. 64 Heurist Network (Online), University of Sydney, 2018, http://heuristnetwork.org/ 65 Heurist Network (Online), University of Sydney, 2018, http://heuristnetwork.org/ 66 Pamela Fletcher, “Reflections on Digital Art History.”

28 1) Record types, which are the entities such as artist, organization, collector and sculpture.

2) The fields chosen to make repeatable, such as size, iconography and patina.67

Close attention was paid to the last two categories because, often with Western bronze, there are multiple iconographies or patinas in one Western bronze sculpture. The separation was important because if data was entered incorrectly during the process, then one piece could be counted multiple times in the statistics. Search fields help to separate works by narrowing down data to assist in gathering precise information. Some fields are also mappable so that they can be viewed on a map via Google Map layering within Heurist. This application can show organizations and people (artists/collectors) separately or together on one map.68 For example, in order to see chronological trends, organization location layers were separated by chronological categories such as 1895 – 1945, 1945 – 1980, 1980 – 2000, and 2000 – 2019. The timeline was separated according to these parameters because these periods all have significant and relevant impacts within the genre based on political, cultural, or sociological instances. Furthermore, it shows how

Western American art creation has grown over a short period. The geographical map only shows spatial information, and that is where the connection to Gephi is helpful because Gephi will show the connection that these auctions and organizations have with specific artists.

The developers of Gephi describe it as being “Photoshop for graphs.”69 It is a tool that allows users to import data and create network webs to analyze data visually without having to go through one item at a time. In order to display large networks in real-time, Gephi uses a 3D render engine. Another interesting feature is that like video games, it uses the computer’s

67 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Database. 68 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Database; Bastian, Heymann, Jacomy, Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks; Google Maps (Online), Google Maps. 69 Bastian, Heymann, Jacomy. Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks.

29 graphics card in order to keep the central processing unit available for other tasks.70 In order to visualize imported data, users can adjust structure, shapes and colours to see specific attributes that may not be visible at first glance.71 The purpose of Gephi is to complement traditional data analysis as a tool for “visual thinking” and what is known as exploratory data analysis or EDA.

EDA looks to visualizations in order to view and make sense of patterns and attributes72 that otherwise may not have been apparent, such as the connection between a specific iconography and the location where it is most popular, or the artist with the most significant sale network. The analysis would be possible without the database, but it would be time-consuming, and the findings would be difficult to prove. Gephi presents the facts in one visual graph as opposed to a list of data, so it uses both visual and quantitative data to illuminate the story that is being told.73

The visuals also assisted in finding the holes within the database to make it an even more useful resource because, through Gephi, mistakes in records and missing links become apparent. What also becomes apparent are the most important connections, and a clear understanding of all other elements within the network. Exploratory data analysis is part of visual analytics, which is the science of analytical reasoning through interactive visual interfaces. Visual analytics combines visualization, human factors, and data analysis. The combination of computation and human interaction allows for higher amounts of data to be accessed and understood.74

70 Bastian, Heymann, Jacomy. Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. 71 Bastian, Heymann, Jacomy. Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. 72 S. Perer, Balancing systematic and flexible exploration of social networks, Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on. 2006, 12(5):693–700. 73 Bastian, Heymann, Jacomy, Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. 74 Thomas J. Cook, Illuminating the Path: Research and Development Agenda for Visual Analytics, IEEE-Press, 2005.

30 2.1 DEVELOPING THE DATABASE

The process of creating a database through Heurist is relatively simple. There are no extra add-ons or downloads that users need to complete before use; researchers create an account and begin setting up the skeleton of their database. After developing spreadsheets containing all the information on organizations, artists and sculptures, the database creation process begins with registering for an account (Figure 5) and selecting the options for functionality (Figures 13 and

14).75 The record types included in the thesis database are people, organizations, places, and sculptures, which, once connected through the record relationship function, will work together to show a visual graph of how they are connected.

Figure 5: Creation of Heurist Database

75 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Database

Figure 6: Heurist Database Dashboard

Figure 7: Heurist Record Types and Fields

Along with record types, a secondary group of functions exists, which are known as fields. These fields help to identify the records and assist in searches, and provide the ability to

32 separate required records. The fields that existed in this database differed based on the record item. For people, the fields were birth date and place, death date and place, name, and gender.

For organizations, the fields were the date of inception, name, location, and artists represented.

The sculpture fields were the most extensive and included artist, date, highest price, size, title, iconography, patination, sale organization, and sale date. To add records or fields, users need to go into modify/extend under the structure heading, then enter into the record structure edit icon and finally, the field can be added into the desired location within the record structure (Figure 7).

Figure 8: Heurist Record Vocabulary

Once the basic structure exists, then the addition of records into the database can take place

(Figure 9). The process of adding records is time-consuming, but it has become an inherent part of the research phase itself: it is not merely an implementation process but an opportunity to develop new thoughts and ideas into how to improve the database and research. New connections are discovered that can be highlighted and opportunities are discovered for

33 expansion in future research. The records include artists, organizations, and the sculptures, and each of these records have important subcategories. For artists, the subcategories are: name, dates (birth and death), gender (which is necessary for analyzing changes within the market and representation), and location. Organization subcategories are: name, location, date of inception, and artists represented. Finally, the one set of records that tie everything together are the sculptures. The sculpture category has the most extensive set of subcategories. The subcategories for these records help to narrow search results. The subcategories for sculptures are: title, artist, dates (created and sold), size (in inches), iconography, patination, highest price (which is what was chosen to focus on rather than having multiple price variances), provenance (which is a connection category that can be used later with specific collectors), and sold by. Without choosing the sculpture link within the connection search, the artists could not link appropriately with the organizations, and this made it problematic for network analysis within Gephi.

Figure 9: Adding a Record in Heurist

Once all the records were added, the exploration of networks of entities could begin

(Figure 10). Initially, they had been explored in Heurist, but there was just too much information and not enough space to get a proper idea of what was on the screen, and the connections were jumbled together on the graph (Figure 11).

Figure 10: Filtering Database Records

Figure 11: Network Graph in Heurist

Records were exported from Heurist and imported into Gephi, allowing visibility of connections on a larger scale (Figure 19). The example shown is one of the many network graphs that can be viewed because of this database. These are the connections existing for Scottsdale Art

Auction.76

Once the record files are imported into the Gephi program, they appear like a cluster of nodes and edges without labels (Figure 12). In order to see the labels, the show label option needs to be selected at the bottom of the page (Figure 13).

76 Scottsdale Art Auction (Online), Scottsdale Art Auction, Scottsdale AZ, 2019.

Figure 12: Gephi Import

Once the labels appear, it starts to look more like a graph, showing connections between the selected auction and the work that has been sold there for the highest price.

Figure 13: Gephi Show Labels

37 To fix the cluttering of the graph, the Force Atlas Filter is selected, which assigns forces to the graph properties, making the graph more visually appealing, while adjusting the repulsion strength to 100,000 assists in avoiding overlap between records (Figure 14).

Figure 14: Gephi Force Atlas To continue adjusting the appearance of the graph, the node size ranking is set as

"relative to degree" so that the records with the most substantial amount of connections would appear larger than those with smaller amounts of connections (Figure 15).

Figure 15: Gephi Size and Colour Adjustments

Another adjustment made was the colour of nodes and edges in relation to each other.

This adjustment helped, much like the node size changes, in that the more intense the node colour, the more critical it was as a record. After the colour change, the attraction strength was adjusted to avoid more overlapping in the graph (Figure 16).

Figure 16: Attraction Strength in Gephi

39 To continue editing the graph, the statistics panel must be entered and the modularity report must be run, clustering coefficient and then the statistic reports to get all the necessary data and make sure everything works with the filters (Figure 19).

Figure 17: Gephi Statistics Panel Once in filters, "partition" must be selected and then switch to the Appearance panel and modularity class must be selected for nodes. In the topology filter, degree range must be selected and a minimal setting must be adjusted to 2; this eliminates disconnected attributes that could have been lingering from the database (Figure 18).

Figure 18: Gephi Graph Degree Range Filter

Figure 19: Gephi Graph Colour Adjustments After the filters were adjusted, the colours could be adjusted to their desired appearance

(Figure 19), and separation of connections can occur by hovering over a record to view its specific connections within the graph (Figures 28 and 29).

Figure 20: Gephi Show Network Joe Beeler

Figure 21: Gephi Show Network Veryl Goodnight

42 In addition to Gephi, My Maps through Google was used.77 Heurist could have been used to view the geographical information, but again, the size of the image was not ideal, and higher quality layers could be created in My Maps by the selection and subsequent export of the map coordinates data report and then the importation into the other program. There were two different entities within the map; organizations and artists (Figure 22). The organizations were separated chronologically, with each group having a different colour. The 1895-1945 group is gold, 1945-

1980 is blue, 1980-2000 is red, and 2000-2019 is green. Artists were separated based on colour and gender; male sculptors are dark blue, while female sculptors are purple. This map allowed visibility of top hubs for Western bronze and conclusions can be drawn based on regional popularity.

Figure 22: Google My Maps Artists/Organizations

Heurist was most helpful, and the only program used when it came to finding the answers that could be given based on statistical information. These statistics were provided in the form of

77 Google Maps (Online), Google Maps.

43 tables, and just like the graphs and maps, it was able to present a large amount of data in a compact visual (Figure 23).78 Through the database, cost inquiries could be made to see what price a collector is willing to pay for works by a specific artist, to find out what the most popular iconography is, or to examine the most popular sculpture size. Regardless of the inquiry, the database is able to provide the answer in a brief amount of time, whereas it would be difficult to find the answer through text resources.

As a quantitative research method, the development of this database helped to ask specific questions never asked about the genre before and enabled discovery of answers to these questions through an analysis of the data. It not only allowed the viewing of data on the surface but under the surface also, which until this point did not seem relevant to analysis of the work.79

78 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Database. 79 Victoria Szabo, “Transforming Art History Research with Database Analytics: Visualizing Art Markets” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 31:2 (September 2012) 159-160.

Figure 23: Heurist Iconography Pricing Table

45 CHAPTER 3: READING THE MARKET FOR WESTERN BRONZE

The collection and sale of Western American art differs significantly from that of other genres. The work has been marginalized since the early 1980s for its issues of representations involving both female and racial subjects.80 However, these racist and sexist depictions only account for some of the marginalization. The other part comes from the fact that it is viewed as a commercial art form made for the sole purpose of commercial sale and collection, but this is not necessarily the case.81 The Western American art market has grown significantly over the last thirty years. This growth appears to have coincided with trends in popular culture, beginning with dime novels and Wild West shows between 1860 and 1920, then film starting with The

Great Train Robbery (1903) followed television programs, with Gunsmoke and The Life and

Legend of Wyatt Earp both beginning in 1955.

The map in Figure 23 shows the number of auctions that existed between 1895 and 1945.

For each chronological period map the icons are separated based on colour:

1895-1945: Gold

1945-1980: Blue

1980-2000: Red

2000-2019: Green

80 Corlann Gee Bush, “The Way We Weren't: Images of Women and Men in Cowboy Art,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 7:3 (1984): 73-78; Brian Dippie, “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History, 51:4 (2001): 68-71; Hasserick, “Where’s the Art in Western Art?” 9; Dippie, “In the Enemy’s Country: Western Art’s Uneasy Status” 14-16. 81 Brian Dippie, “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History, 51:4 (2001): 68-71; Hasserick, “Where’s the Art in Western Art?” 9; Dippie, “In the Enemy’s Country: Western Art’s Uneasy Status” 14-16.

46 Between 1895 and 1945, seven auction houses existed, which hold Western American art.82 These included Sotheby's, Christie's, and Bonham’s.83 As we have seen, the early influence for interest in Western bronze was motivated primarily by United States President Theodore

Roosevelt, in addition to the dime novels featuring stories of Wild Bill and Jesse James.84

President Roosevelt admired Remington’s work, and the two became friends. Remington and the volunteer cavalry known as the Rough Riders gave him a copy of the Bronco Buster (Figure 1) sculpture as a gift and it sat on display in his Sagamore Hill home located in Oyster Bay, New

York.85 During Roosevelt’s time as president of the United States of America, from 1901-1909, other Western sculptures appeared in the White House. These included works from Canadian born sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor and Montana artist Charlie Russell.86 Roosevelt would actively promote the work in texts he would write and took many opportunities to speak about the work to visitors in his home.87 He gave praise to Remington in a 1907 issue of

Pearson’s magazine by stating that Remington was “one of the most typical American artists… and he has portrayed the most characteristic and yet vanishing type of American life. The soldier, the cowboy and rancher, [Indigenous people], the horses and the cattle of the plains, will live in

82 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Database; Kylie Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze Locations,” My Maps by Google (2019). 83 Also included in this list of Auction houses are: Waddington’s, Shobe (United Country), Charlton Hall, and Swann Auction Galleries; Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze Locations,” My Maps by Google (2019). 84 Christine Bold, “The Rough Riders at Home and Abroad: Cody, Roosevelt, Remington and the Imperialist Hero,” The Canadian Review of American Studies, 18:3 (1987): 321-350; Brian Dippie, “Drawn to the West,” Western Historical Quarterly, 35: 1 (2004) 4-26; Dippie. “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,” 68-71. 85 Bold, “The Rough Riders at Home and Abroad: Cody, Roosevelt, Remington and the Imperialist Hero.” 332; Shannon Vittoria, “Theodore Roosevelt: Patron of American Western Bronzes,” The American West in Bronze, 1850-1925, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. 86 Vittoria, “Theodore Roosevelt: Patron of American Western Bronzes.” 87 Vittoria, “Theodore Roosevelt: Patron of American Western Bronzes.”

47 his pictures and bronzes… for all time.”88 Roosevelt was critical of work that was not of a realist nature, and this is likely why artists like Remington appealed to him.89

Figure 24: Google My Maps Organizations (1895-1945)

Figure 25: Google My Maps Organizations (1945-1980)

88 Thayer Tolles, “Frederic Remington (1861–1909),” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (2000) https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/remi/hd_remi.htm 89 Tolles, “Frederic Remington (1861–1909)”; Vittoria, “Theodore Roosevelt: Patron of American Western Bronzes

48 Between 1945 and 1980, twenty auction houses appeared, as well as annual auction events.90 The difference between auction houses and events is that auction houses sell objects all year, whereas the events are often done as a partnership between various galleries and dealers to sell many works once a year. Auction houses included Altermann in New Mexico, Eldred's in

Massachusetts, and John Moran in California.91 The development of the annual Western

American art auction event occurred in 1969 with the Charlie Russell benefit auction in Great

Falls followed by the Prix de West in Oklahoma City four years later in 1973.92 The Russell benefit was an idea that initially came from Montana TV Personality Norma Ashby. The event began as an idea to replace the “Great Falls Ad Club’s Cadillac Dinner.” The Cadillac Dinner was an event that sold raffle tickets for a chance to win a Cadillac. It was successful for many years, not only providing money for the club but also helping the club to give out a scholarship.

The problem was that in Montana, gambling became illegal in the 1960s, and the club had to think of another way to raise funds. Ashby and other club members decided to hold an auction that would showcase and sell Russell’s work and also provide exposure for up and coming

Western American artists, with proceeds going to the Ad Club and the Russell Museum.93

The initial success of the auction came from Ashby’s connection to Fred Renner, the most well-known Russell expert and collector of the time. Renner helped with the auction by providing the club with a list of buyer contacts who were interested in collecting Russell

90 Other auctions and events include: Skinner, Winter Associates, Mroczek Brothers, Heritage, Vogt, Kraft, Westbridge, O’Gallerie, Clar’s, Bukowski’s, Allard, Simpson, Doyle, Morris and Whiteside, and Rendezvous Royale. Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze Locations,” My Maps by Google (2019). 91 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019); Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze Locations,” My Maps by Google (2019). 92 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019). 93 Hope Good, “Mother of the Russel Auction,” Treasure State Lifestyles Montana Magazine, (February 2016) http://treasurestatelifestyles.com/history-legacy-russell-auction/; C.M. Russell Museum, “Frederic G. and Ginger K. Renner Research Center,” C.M. Russell Museum Website, https://cmrussell.org/renner-research-center/

49 artwork.94 The event was an incredible success, bringing in over 400 buyers while raising over

$20,000, a considerable sum for art in Montana at the time.95 The event grew over the years to become a multi-day event, with the Russell auction closing the festivities.96 Events such as the

Charlie Russell Benefit Auction paved the way for others.

Figure 26: Google My Maps Organizations (1980-2000) From 1980 to 2000, fifteen auction houses and annual events appeared.97 These auction houses included Burchard in Florida, Midwest in Iowa, and Ripley in Idaho. Events included the

Western Showcase in Calgary, Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, Old West Events in New Mexico, and

Santa Fe Art Auction in New Mexico. The increase in the development of auctions and events lead to more objects sold and purchased across America. The territory was spreading for artists

94 Good, “Mother of the Russel Auction.” 95 Good, “Mother of the Russel Auction.” 96 Good, “Mother of the Russel Auction.” 97 Auctions and Events include: Brunk, Hodgins, Pook and Pook, Guyette and Deeter, Morton Auctioneers, Wickliff, Rachel Davis, New Orleans, Jackson’s, Larsen, and Heffel. Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019); Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze Locations,” My Maps by Google (2019).

50 and collectors and the development of new events lead to more significant opportunities for marketing and sale. Following the path of the Charlie Russell Auction, these events did not just focus on the old masters of the genre, but brought in the contemporary up and coming artists, giving them an opportunity for exposure.98

Figure 27: Google My Maps Organizations (2000-2019) Finally, from 2000 to today, eleven auctions and annual events have appeared.99 Auction houses include Dallas in Texas, Julien's in California, and J. Levine in Arizona. Events include

Scottsdale Art Auction in Arizona, Best of the West in Montana, and Jackson Hole in Wyoming.

The new push for Western American art has gone hand in hand with a “Western Revival.”100

However, this time, there are new perspectives and additions to the genre. In both visual art and film, in genres such as the revisionist Western, figures who were once featured negatively or as

98 Good, “Mother of the Russel Auction.” 99 Auctions and events not mentioned above are: The Potomack Co., Schwenke Woodbury, Great American West, Reata Pass, Little John’s, Fredricksburg, Hall’s, Adobe Western Gallery, Boningtons, John R Howard, Levi’s, Shobe, Kaminski, Leslie Hidman, St. Charles, Astoria; Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019); Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze Locations,” My Maps by Google (2019). 100 Andy Rieber, “Cowboy Culture Alive and Well,” The Wall Street Journal, New York: February 10 (2015).

51 background subject matter are shown and represented in a more positive light. Also, individuals who did not have a voice on their representation during the genre's development, now do.

Women are shown on their own, not only as figures of beauty but as figures of strength and perseverance, such as the woman in Veryl Goodnight’s Back from the Brink (2000) (Figure 4).101

First Nations artists such as Doug Hyde are articulating their people's stories the way they want them told, rather than being twisted to appeal to a dated perspective of history.102 Many galleries and museums have reviewed collections to monitor what could potentially be seen as disturbing to the public and have either changed the way the works are displayed or in some cases – removed the works from circulation placing them in permanent storage.103 Even though the public galleries have changed their displays, the sale of the historic bronzes still occur in auctions. It is not known why some collectors want to purchase sculptures of First Nations figures, especially those that are inaccurate representations of their culture; however sculptures such as Russell’s The Medicine Man (1920) (Figure 28) or Remington’s The Scalp (1898)

(Figure 29) can sell between $150,000 and $250,000 at auction.104 Despite the representational issues surrounding the genre, in just over 124 years, the number of auctions and events which hold Western American art and memorabilia has grown from 9 to over 60.

101 James Nottage, Christine Mollring, and Veryl Goodnight, “Back from the Brink,” No Turning Back: The Art of Veryl Goodnight (Mancos: Goodnight Fine Art Ltd. 2011) 124 – 131; Veryl Goodnight, “The History Behind Back from the Brink,” 2000, http://www.verylgoodnight.com/bftb1.html. Key sources on the revisionist western in film include Jon Cowan, Film and Colonialism in the Sixties (New York and London: Routledge, 2019) and Peter C. Rollins and John E. O’Connor, eds. Hollywood’s Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film (Louisville: The University Press of Kentucky, 2003). 102 April Baer, “Native Artist Creates New Bronze Statue for Joseph’s Main Street,” OPB News, June 21 (2019); Dippie, “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,” 71. 103 Dippie, “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,” 71; Peter H Hassrick and Brian Dippie, Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on Western American Art (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007) 104 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019).

Figure 28. Charlie Russell, The Medicine Man, 1920, Bronze, 7” Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.

Figure 29. Frederic Remington, The Scalp, 1898, Bronze, 26.5” Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB.

53 3.1 AUCTIONS, VALUE AND THE COLLECTOR

The auction is not only a method of sale but also a means of social interaction and networking.105 It brings together collectors, dealers, and artists whose vast web of networks has expanded significantly since 1895. Prestigious auction houses such as Sotheby’s, Christie’s and

Bonham’s have developed the demand for these items and have been influential in the expansion of the genre to a broader audience. These auctions have not only sold works by Remington and other Western masters, but they have also sold pieces from contemporary artists such as Richard

Loffler and Linda Stewart.106

Through analysis of the highest prices paid for specific works within the last ten years, the data shows that of the three auction houses, Sotheby’s has sold the most record price sculptures at twenty-two pieces while Bonham’s sold eleven and Christie’s sold ten. This analysis does not reflect the full amount of works these auctions have sold. It is only focused on where the highest price was paid for a specific sculpture versus other auctions who focus on the

Western genre.107

Figure 30: Top Auction House Record Sales Table This table in figure 30 shows the number of high price records for each auction house and demonstrates that Western bronzes have been appearing more at the top auction houses within

105 Laura Meyers, “Cowboy Art Corrals Collectors,” Art Business News, February, 2003; Pamela Fletcher and Anne Helmreich, The Rise of the Modern Art Market in London, 1850-1939 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011) 106 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019). 107 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019).

54 the last ten years, thus suggesting an increase in popularity. Charlie Russell, Bob Scriver,

Alexander Proctor, and Frederic Remington are the Western American artists whose work frequently appears at these auctions and the table in figure 31 shows the numerical data for each artist who has had a record price set by one of these auction houses. Sale prices for most of these pieces are between $10,000 and $500,000, except for Remington’s work, which has been known to sell for over $1,000,000.108

Figure 31: Table Showing Artists Whose Pieces Have Sold at Top Auctions The following two illustrations in figures 32 and 33 show the valuation data of a selected set of bronzes, the connections between the artists who created them and the organizations they were sold at. By inputting data into the database created through Heurist, information can be found to reveal how these entities worked together within the networks. The selected set revolves

108 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019).

55 around a specific iconography (Cowboy) which can be separated and exported through Heurist and imported into Gephi.

Figure 32: Table Showing Prices of Pieces Sold Featuring Cowboy Iconographies

Figure 33: Dealer Graph in Gephi (Altermann Galleries) Figure 33 shows just one of the many connections for a top dealer who sells a variety of bronzes matching this iconography. Some dealers, especially if they are also a gallery, will focus on

56 specific imagery based on its collectability within a particular demographic. Altermann has had a variety of pieces representing cowboys, but they have actually sold more wildlife sculptures. The cowboy iconography was chosen based on its frequent appearance in the sales of dealers and auctions. Some separations can be troublesome when it comes to presentation purposes. For example, if it was decided to separate all the connections within the wildlife category, then the image it created would be unreadable for the size of this paper. The data can also be viewed based on the artist. The image below in figure 34 shows an artist separation for Joe Beeler, with the pieces he created within the cowboy iconography measured against the locations they have sold at for the highest price.

Figure 34: Artist Connection Graph in Gephi

Although Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Bonham’s are the top art auction houses in the world, the highest prices paid for many Western bronzes come not from them but from the annual

57 auction events where masterpieces created by artists like Remington and Russell are featured as highlights. The headliner feature is an example of a marketing strategy used in many annual auction events, and they are what often bring in collectors from across North America. If a masterpiece is going to sell at the event, it will often be advertised months in advance so that collectors can prepare accordingly.109

The profitability of bronze sales fluctuates from year to year, depending on trends in the market. For example, Scottsdale Art Auction had a strong auction year in 2018, fetching a total of $17,390,945.00, $3,063,023.00 of which came exclusively from bronzes.110 The 2018 auctions were successful not only because of masterpieces such as Bronco Buster (Figure 1) but also the Leanin’ Tree sale, which occurred two months prior to the regular annual auction. This sale is important to look at because it demonstrates the social network component of the Western

American art sale - the coming together of a community of collectors, artists, and an Auction, which traditionally only occurs on an annual basis. This sale occurred because Ed Trumble (1924

– 2018), the founder of Leanin’ Tree greeting card company (Fn.1949), decided to sell his collection. Over the years, his company was able to employ and publish hundreds of artist’s work in the form of greeting cards, and during Trumble’s time with the company, he became a notable collector of Western American art. Trumble started the Leanin’ Tree Museum in 1974, and it ran until its closure in August of 2017. The museum contained Trumble’s private collection, which included 300 paintings and 200 bronze sculptures, a significant amount for a

109 Meyers, “Cowboy Art Corrals Collectors.” 110 Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019); Scottsdale Art Auction, 2017 Scottsdale Art Auction Results. Scottsdale Art Auction, Scottsdale, AZ (2017); Scottsdale Art Auction, 2018 Scottsdale Art Auction Results. Scottsdale Art Auction, Scottsdale, AZ (2018).

58 private collector.111 Both these auctions were a success, and they sold 96% of the works listed in the catalogues, most of which were paintings.

Auctions are a longstanding tradition in Western America functioning as a primary method of sale. Anything from livestock to general goods is purchased and sold. Due to the nostalgic nature of Western American art, it is fitting that some collectors choose to purchase their items at a Western American art auction. Western American art auctions involve social events and seminars, while quick draw events have also become a popular attraction attached to many Western American art auctions. These events are timed, and once the art is complete, spectators can bid on the original work from the artists, which can be exciting to spectators.

These “quickdraws” are not limited to two-dimensional art, and bronze artists often have a sculptor’s version of this competition. Western auctions and sales allow collectors the opportunity to build connections with other collectors, artists, and dealers. The more connections a collector has, the easier it is for them to find the sculptures they desire.

Recent prices at auctions show that Western bronze is still in-demand. Although the prices of bronze fluctuate, the sculptures often sell for the suggested value, if not more.112

Valuation of sculpture involves a certain amount of research into factors such as artist, amount of copies available, originality, date, size, and the demand for other versions of the work. If the artist is considered to be an old master, then the sculpture being sold will often be valued higher than a contemporary artist’s sculpture. More copies devalue the original work and lower its demand. When there are more copies available, collectors are less motivated to invest in them,

111 Western Art Collector, “A Collector’s Passion,” Western Art Collector, (March 2019). 112 Antique Trader, “Shrady’s Elk Buffalo bronze sells for $276K, sets new world record,” Antique Trader Antiques Auction News, (April 9, 2015); Dahlstrom, “The West in Bronze,” Sydney: University of Sydney, Heurist Database (2019); Scottsdale Art Auction, 2017 Scottsdale Art Auction Results; Scottsdale Art Auction, 2018 Scottsdale Art Auction Results; Tom Wilmes, “The Art of Utility,” American Cowboy, (October-November 2012).

59 and will instead focus on rare, or more original works.113 Larger sculptures are generally more expensive due to the cost of materials, but some smaller bronzes created by famous masters can be exceptions to this rule.

Determining the value of a piece and analyzing how much an individual should spend is a skill within the practice of collecting. One method of determining a price is to seek cost information on a work that is similar to the piece in question. Art market theorist Isabelle Graw suggests that “the value of a piece relies on its commodification and the value is suggested based on the artist's status amongst others and even its provenance and display history.”114 If someone well known has owned an object prior to its sale, then this could increase the value of a piece.

One may think that collectors value works that are unique and one of a kind. However, to many collectors, the provenance of a piece plays an essential role in the value of it.115 In order to enhance the potential value of a work of art and reputation of an artist they promote, some galleries will sometimes “place” a piece in the home of someone well known within the collector network to try to boost the reputation of the artist who created the work.116 While symbolic value plays an important role in the collection of bronze, some buyers are actually more attracted to the higher-price than the sculpture itself, and a piece priced higher will usually attract more interest than one that is priced more modestly. This presents another interesting case for the development of value because in conversations with artist Richard Loffler it was noted that some collectors like to manipulate sales to increase value of newer artists by purchasing multiple pieces from them. In a few years, when the initial prices have increased, then they will go in with other

113 Georgina Adam, Big Bucks: The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 2014) 74; Meyers, “Cowboy Art Corrals Collectors.” 114 Isabelle Graw, “The value of the art commodity: Twelve theses on human labor, mimetic desire, and aliveness,” Texte Zur Kunst 88, Frankfurt, Germany (Dec. 2012) 130 – 144. 115 Gail Feigenbaum and Inge J. Reist, Ed., “Introduction,” Provenance: An Alternate History of Art (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute 2012) 1-2; Adam, Big Bucks: The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century, 74 116 Adam, Big Bucks: The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century, 61.

60 collectors and purchase the works at the newer value. This strategy is intended to bring validation to the artist and their work, raise the value of the artist’s work and increase the value of the collector’s pieces that they purchased at the lower price.117

For collectors and artists alike, the Western genre can provide social statements on the way things were when people had a connection with the land and the non-human inhabitants who share our world.118 Sculptures of bison and other wildlife create statements about preserving the land so that history does not repeat itself, making us think about what we are doing to our open spaces and the habitat of these creatures. Sculptures of cowboys and their horses braving the cold to save a calf, such as the one in Scott Rogers’ Rescue (2003) (Figure 35), provide a statement on our partnership with animals and treating them with respect. Collectors of these items have a feeling of nostalgia for the works that they purchase. They remember family members who sparked interest in the themes or perhaps they grew up around farms or ranches, and a work brings back pleasant memories for them. The nostalgia may be a romantic conception the West that collectors feel, but it is a psychological connection nonetheless to the pieces with which collectors are interacting,119 and these collections provide them with a certain amount of satisfaction and fulfillment. Collectors enjoy the emotion and excitement that the acquisition of new pieces provides and the social interactions that these purchases bring.120

117 Richard Loffler, Email Conversation, November 15, 2019. 118 Brian Rusted, In progress: Stampedagogy, Calgary: University of Calgary. 119 Lisa Penaloza, “Consuming the American West: Animating Cultural Meaning and Memory at a Stock Show and Rodeo,” Journal of Consumer Research, 28, (December 2001): 369-398. 120 Platt, “Content and Value in the Secondary Sporting Art Market,” 5-6

Figure 35. Scott Rogers, Rescue, 2003, Bronze, 27” Sold to Private Collector, Photo by J. Levine Auctions, Phoenix, AZ.

The motivations of collectors are fascinating to consider. Gallerist Sadie Coles suggests that there are two types of collectors, one being emotional and the other being analytical.

Emotional collectors will purchase works based on how they feel when they see them, while the analytical collector will research every last detail of a piece before taking the plunge into purchasing the object in question.121 The “thrill of the hunt” is a motivator for many collectors.

They seek out their prey in the form of a rare bronze, and they stop at nothing until the very last bid or deal. The practice of collecting art is competitive, and collectors will try to best each other with the items they purchase, but the process of collecting also allows collectors to find common ground with each other and provides positive social interactions.122

121 Erica Back, “Collecting on the Cloud: The Impact of the Internet on the Art Market and Collecting Practices,” Sotheby’s Institute of Art (2014) 122 Adam, Big Bucks: The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century; James (Jim) Balestrieri, Email Conversation, November 14, 2019.

62 The popularity of the art auction paved the way for the commercial art gallery in the mid-

19th century. The art gallery was able to sell art daily without needing specific events to do so, like the auction once did. The ability of these galleries to turn a profit at any time during the year led to more artists creating art full time as a profession.123 The artists who were able to make more money for their work became in-demand by collectors. When it came to the birth of

Western American art shortly before the 20th century, artists like Remington were able to make a living from their artwork. Remington worked as an illustrator, and once he gained popularity and respect from the likes of important people like Roosevelt, he was able to focus on selling his paintings and sculptures.124 Charlie Russell, by contrast, worked as a range cowboy before becoming an artist, but even while he was on the range, he was always sketching in his notebooks and creating stories that would later be depicted in his paintings and sculptures.125 He had limited talent and expertise in managing his career, so his wife and business partner Nancy

Cooper Russell set up all his appointments, did his marketing, and managed his books. Because of Cooper Russell, Russell managed to get his work into shows like the Calgary Stampede, commercial galleries and auctions in New York.126

3.2 THE CALGARY STAMPEDE

The Calgary Stampede (1912-present) is an interesting case for the market of Western

American art, and although they no longer have the Western American art auction, their art show

123 Julie Codell, "The Art Press and Art Market, the Artist as an ‘Economic Man’," The Rise of the Modern Art Market, Ed. Pamela Fletcher and Anne Helmreich, 129. 124 Bold, “The Rough Riders at Home and Abroad: Cody, Roosevelt, Remington and the Imperialist Hero,” 321-350; Dippie, “Drawn to the West,” 4-26; Dippie, “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective,” 68-71. 125 Donna Livingstone, Fred Fellows, Emily Wilson, and Brian Dippie, Return to Calgary: Charlie Russell and the 1919 Victory Stampede Seminar, July 4, 2019. 126 Rusted, The Art of the Calgary Stampede, 2010; Rusted, “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede,” 273.

63 is one of the most well-known. This success is partially due to the connection to Charlie Russell.

Calgary Stampede founder, Guy Weadick, who had worked with various Wild West Shows, wanted to create a similar type of event for Western Canada and had a dream that it would be one of the best in North America. In order to achieve his dream, he was financially backed by

“The Big Four,” a group of wealthy investors from the Calgary area. Aside from the Western show, Weadick wanted an exhibition component, and this is where Russell came in. Weadick had initially asked him to show a group of 20 paintings for the 1912 showcase. This exhibition was a huge success, not only for the promotion of his work but also for the event itself. Some pieces were even purchased by visitors from overseas, which brought Russell’s images of the

West into Europe.

Due to the financial impact that World War I had on Canada, the Stampede did not occur again until 1919, at which point Russell came back with another set of artworks, which included eight bronze sculptures.127 Over the next few years, Charlie Russell created other bronze sculptures for the Stampede until Charlie Beil, a Canadian artist who had learned from Russell, took the torch and carried with him the legacy of creating original bronze sculptures for champions of the Stampede Rodeo events. To this day, the Stampede still acts as a patron of

Western American art, with special attention to bronze sculpture. According to Brian Rusted, the

Stampede as an organization is a bronze collector itself.128 In order to promote Western

American art (specifically, bronze sculpture), the artist trophy competition was developed, and sculptors compete to get their work featured as the event champion trophies. Every year since the concept was created, the Stampede keeps a copy of each bronze trophy for each rodeo event.129

127 Rusted, “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede,” 282. 128 Rusted, “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede.” 129 Rusted, “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede.”

64 Another support for Western American artists is the annual Calgary Stampede poster competition and the main art show, known as the Western Showcase. In 2018 there were 1.2 million people from around the world who attended the event, and in 2019 the numbers increased by 4,000 people. This made their special exhibition of Charlie Russell’s work at the Western

Showcase even more appropriate. Western American art shows, such as the one at the Stampede, are a combination of the energy and atmosphere auctions provide, but they also give collectors the one-on-one attention commercial galleries provide.

Other shows include Heart of the West in Montana and the Cheyenne Frontier Days Art

Show in Wyoming. These events allow buyers the opportunity to speak with the artists and see their work up close. Events often combine themselves with auctions to attract a larger crowd. Art shows occur on fixed dates and are often group organized by partner dealers. These shows offer the same atmosphere as an auction but profile greater variety in the work and are geared towards contemporary pieces.130 These shows are fairly competitive, therefore they avoid overlapping dates, as that could present issues for all parties involved.131

3.3 PUBLICATIONS, THE WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA

A strategy that is used to attract collectors is the creation of print materials, such as catalogues and advertisements in magazines, websites and social media pages. Western

American art has always been commercialized, and this is because before it was a stand-alone genre, it was used in promotional posters for events and illustrations in books. Remington, who began as an illustrator, was the first to experience commercial success selling paintings and sculptures that included the same iconography these materials had, and because of this, he

130 Adam, Big Bucks: The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century, 103. 131 Adam, Big Bucks: The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century, 115.

65 became the father of the genre. Remington’s art was promoted, but not as thoroughly as his contemporary, Russell, who had the support of Nancy Cooper Russell assisting with the marketing of his work.132 It is not clear when the first print advertisement for Western American art appeared. However, publications were not a new concept in the 1900s. The rise of the art market gave rise to publications and advertisements focused on art and its collection.

The art press was able to advance reader knowledge by publishing interviews of successful or rising artists, presenting information on new pieces, advertising upcoming sales, and representing galleries.133 Although it occurred very late, enthusiasts of the Western genre developed a publication in 1987, titled Art of the West.134 This publication came at a time when there was a downturn in the purchase and interest in Western American art (coincidentally this was also the year of the stock market crash known as Black Monday), and it managed to restore some enthusiasm in the genre. During another downturn that was brought on by the recession in

2007, Western Art Collector magazine came into being.135 Both publications were born from a longstanding tradition of using the press as a tool to promote art to a broader audience.136 The advancement of the internet provided a new platform for artists, dealers and auctions, not only to advertise work, but to sell it as well. Referring back to the print publications, Art of the West is focused on traditional Western American art, and, while the website where potential subscribers can go is baseline without much content, the website for Western Art Collector is full of information and gives potential subscribers a taste of what they might get from the magazine.

The higher quality of advertisement from Western Art Collector could also be due to the fact that

132 Donna Livingstone, Fred Fellows, Emily Wilson, and Brian Dippie, Return to Calgary: Charlie Russell and the 1919 Victory Stampede Seminar, July 4, 2019. 133 Codell, "The Art Press and Art Market, the Artist as an ‘Economic Man’," 129. 134 Art of the West Magazine (Website): https://www.aotw.com/#/issue 135 Western Art Collector Magazine (Website) https://www.westernartcollector.com/ 136 Codell, "The Art Press and Art Market, the Artist as an ‘Economic Man’," 129.

66 the publication is part of a series of five different magazines, including American Art

Collector, American Fine Art, International Artist, and Native American Art, which provide the company with additional funds. The features in both publications include advertisements on upcoming sales, artist interviews, new pieces, and other information on the current market. These publications tend to focus on the sale of artwork, especially multi-day auction events or sales, such as March in Montana, Scottsdale Art Week, or Western Showcase, which seem to be the primary method of sale and exposure for current Western American artists. The thing that sets Art of the West apart from Western Art Collector is that at the beginning of the year, it produces an annual guidebook of Western American art shows, auctions and museums, which allows collector-subscribers the opportunity to plan their travels accordingly. For collectors who cannot travel, many top auctions have the option to bid online, and this is a safe route as pieces are authenticated before the sale. Heritage Auctions in Texas sell a majority of their pieces online, and because of this, they have made themselves one of the current top auction houses.137

The option to sell art online is relatively anonymous and presents new opportunities because, if a lot does not sell, then it may not be devalued, as it would be at a public auction.138 Social media has not been utilized by all of the Western American art sale events, artists and dealers, but some are beginning to see what marketing opportunities these platforms provide. Through social media, organizations and artists can expand their fanbase and advertise. Facebook is a tool that is ideal for anyone within the market, while Instagram works best for artists who want to increase awareness of their work and show it to the world. Success in social media requires a particular skill set, and many organizations make the mistake of not gathering enough knowledge before use, and although this is not detrimental to their business, it renders the tools ineffective.

137 Heritage Auctions (Website) https://www.ha.com/ 138 Adam, Big Bucks: The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century, 126.

67 Scottsdale Art Auction is an example of an organization that has embraced the power of social media.139 Scottsdale Art Auction was an early social media influencer for other Western art auctions, joining Facebook in 2009 and Instagram in 2018, their posts are compelling, provide the right amount of information, and post just enough to keep followers interested. Currently their follower numbers are at 2,141 for Facebook and 880 for Instagram. These numbers have been growing steadily for the last few years with other shows and sales beginning to catch up and even surpass these numbers, such as Out West Art Show and Sale in Great Falls, Montana; who’s numbers are beginning to grow past Scottsdale’s standing at 2900 followers on Facebook and 444 on Instagram.

139 Scottsdale Art Auction, Scottsdale Art Auction, Facebook Page; Scottsdale Art Auction, Scottsdale Art Auction, Instagram.

68 CHAPTER 4: ICONOGRAPHIES

The Western genre of bronze sculpture deals with a wide range of iconographies, with the most popular being wildlife, Cowboys, and Indigenous peoples, but the genre is not limited to that. Other iconographies, such as domestic animals (cattle, horses, dogs, etc.) and women are also important to consider within the genre. Iconography can be defined as the images within an art piece and what they represent. The above iconographies were selected because they appeared frequently within the genre, these iconographies can also be combined with each other into one piece. There has been a shift in popularity among the iconographies over time, but they have not changed significantly over one hundred and twenty-four years. The change is not within the collection of the work, but mainly in the way it is sold and displayed. Some iconographies can be considered racist and glorify violence, and this has created much of the negativity that surrounds the genre. There has been a shift in the presentation and sale of these works due to new knowledge of the implications many earlier pieces have. Bronzes of Indigenous people and women from Remington and Russell’s time are still bought and sold for millions of dollars but are not as abundant within the market as they have been in the past (perhaps due to the critical influence of revisionist, feminist and post-colonial discourses and their increasing effect on the general culture and settler perspectives). Social movements within North America, specifically within the last thirty years, have made us view and think of art and other materials in new ways.

Scholars take into account other perspectives which are less Eurocentric and more open. Thanks to Indigenous theory and method both American and Canadian art history can be seen and displayed differently.

The Heurist database has been instrumental in understanding specific trends and connections based on these iconographies and allowed for the consideration of important

69 questions, such as: What is the most popular iconography within the genre? What is the price a collector is willing to pay for a specific piece within the iconography? Furthermore, is there a difference in regional popularity? There are many more questions to consider, but those details are to follow.

4.1 WILDLIFE

When considering iconographical popularity, portrayals of wildlife are the most collectable in today’s market, but as mentioned earlier, the interpretations have changed over time. In the past, wildlife, such as wolves, represented the dangers and unforgiving nature of the

West. In the past, wildlife was seen as a danger to the settlers, and they would hunt animals down without a second thought. These wild animals were seen as the enemy and something that needed to be overcome. Some predatory animals are still seen as a threat to ranchers and farmers who own livestock but herbivores are receiving more leniency. Today, due to our increasing understanding of Indigenous values and ways of life we see the connections of humans to nature, and the beauty of these animals and work to preserve the ones we have left.140 Bison, for instance, were once plentiful, but their numbers dwindled to near extinction through overhunting.

Racism among members of mainstream society has been a contributing factor to the plight of

Indigenous populations throughout history and genocidal efforts by European settler communities are a dark reality in North American history for both Indigenous peoples and the animals that sustained them.141 The killing of bison was ultimately a genocidal policy to eradicate Indigenous groups who, for millennia, relied on the bison for sustenance and other

140 Zahava Hanan, “Introduction,” An Alberta Bestiary: Animals of the Rolling Hills, Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2004, 11-14; Jim Ellis, “Introduction,” Calgary: City of Animals, Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2017, 11-16. 141 James W. Daschuk, “Introduction,” Clearing the Plains, Regina: University of Regina Press, 2014, 9-22.

70 survival needs. The bison iconography acts, not only as a reminder of past wrongdoings, but as a symbol of revitalization and regrowth, since there are movements to restore buffalo populations across the prairies.142 There is minimal open land left for wildlife these days and those who collect wildlife bronzes long for what once was. Bison and bears seem to be the most collectable bronzes within the wildlife category. Richard Loffler’s The Buffalo Trail (Figure 36), which spans 5.4 feet in length, is a sculpture that fetched $34,500.00 in 2012 at the Jackson Hole art auction. This is only one of the many pieces that have sold within this price range at an auction.

Figure 36. Richard Loffler, Buffalo Trail, 2012, Bronze, 65” Private Collector, Photo by Richard Loffler, Regina, SK.

4.2 COWBOYS AND RODEO

Unlike the transient symbolism of wildlife subjects over time, for collectors of Western

American art, the Cowboy has tended to be a figure that symbolizes positive qualities. In the mythology of settler cultures, the Cowboy stood up for what was right. He was tough and strong

142 Dianne Oellette, “Human + Bison,” Marking the Land, March 12, 2017, http://markingtheland.ca/human-bison/; Stephen C. Torbit and Louis LaRose, “A Commentary on Bison and Cultural Restoration: Partnership Between the National Wildlife Federation and the InterTribal Bison Cooperative,” Great Plains Research, 11: 1 (Spring 2001). 177; Judith McDonald, “Essay: Bison Restoration in the Great Plains and the Challenge of Their Management,” Great Plains Research, 11: 1 (Spring 2001) 104-106, 109-112, 115-116.

71 but was also fair and kind.143 The history of the Cowboy is rooted in the South American Gaucho or Mexican Vaquero. However, the Cowboy we think of today is rooted in the influence of popular culture, beginning with literature and Wild West shows, followed by films. Thus, he is essentially a cinematic creation—one that, since the 1960s, has been critiqued and deconstructed in powerful ways. In his book titled The Wild West: The Mythical Cowboy and Social Theory

Will Wright suggested that as many places have their creation myths, the creation myth of North

America lies within the myth of the frontier with the cowboy as its hero. This cowboy hero

“fought for a new society, a ‘civil’ society based on market relations.”144 The dark side of the fight for this civil society however was rooted in the justification of violence in order to claim the land from Indigenous populations and artists such as Remington glorified the horror that became their reality.145

Throughout the early 20th century, following our American neighbours, Canadians adopted American popular culture, and the mythology of the Cowboy became a symbol of

Western Canada too. On the political side of Cowboy iconography, it is clear that the highly collectible 1895 sculpture Bronco Buster (Figure 1), by Remington, was created in order to describe America at that time from a settler perspective.146 The Cowboy stood for expansion and progress while the wild bronco represented the untamed West. Today, there are many readings of

143 William Cronon, George Miles and Jay Gitlin, Under an Open Sky, New York: W. W. Norton, 1992.; Brian W. Dippie, “Drawn to the West,” Western Historical Quarterly, 35: 1 (2004) 4-26; Peter H. Hassrick and Brian Dippie, Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on Western American Art, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007. 144 Will Wright, “Introduction.” The Wild West: The Mythical Cowboy and Social Theory, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications 2001, 1. 145 For an argument surrounding the mythical cowboy’s violent past see Mark Cronlund Anderson, “Introduction,” Holy War: Cowboys, Indians, and 9/11s, Regina: University of Regina Press 2016, 2-27; Wright, “Introduction.” The Wild West: The Mythical Cowboy and Social Theory, 1-14. 146 Christine Bold, “The Rough Riders at Home and Abroad: Cody, Roosevelt, Remington and the Imperialist Hero,” The Canadian Review of American Studies, 18:3 (1987): 321-350.

72 Cowboy/Bronco iconography, making the collection of Western American art a double-edged sword. Despite the insights of post-colonial discourse, there remains a large number of settler

Americans and Canadians who reflect positively on the industrialization of America and the taming of the West.

The meanings of rodeo Cowboy iconographies are unique from the way historic Cowboy bronzes are seen by collectors. Although these bronzes are less desirable, the rodeo Cowboy and

Cowgirl of today are seen in a more positive light than their historic brethren. The idea of the cowboy created by various materials of pop culture and the values he possesses are more accurate today than they were when the cowboy roamed the open ranges. With a longing to connect to the land, and recognition of what many humans have done to our environment in the name of progress, there has been a recent shift back to an interest in the West and Western culture and this shift also brings awareness that animals, both wild and domestic are more than just animals.147 Without them not only America, but the world, would be a very different place.

The cowboys and cowgirls of today also acknowledge the importance of their hooved partners.

American Folklorist Beverly Stoeltje argued that “rodeo is a ritual drama expressing social relationships between humans and animals with one prevailing in the end (usually the cowboy).

Thus, symbolizing the idea of man overcoming nature,”148 and historian Susan Nance also suggested that “from the very beginning of the Calgary Stampede in 1912 the figure of the

Bronco Buster was central to its iconography… presenting a struggle between two identifiable

147 Aubrey Manning and James Serpell, “Introduction,” Animals and Human Society Changing Perspectives, New York: Routledge Press (2014): xi-xii; Mary Midgly, “Bridge Building at Last,” Animals and Human Society Changing Perspectives, New York: Routledge Press (2014): 188-194; Jim Ellis, “Introduction,” Calgary: City of Animals, Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2017, 11-16. 148 Beverly J. Stoeltje, “Paredes and the Hero: The North American Cowboy Revisited,” Journal of American Folklore, 125:495 (2012) 45-68.

73 individuals.”149 However, instead of seeing it as a struggle for power, the current scoring and rules for rodeo events are focused around the human/non-human partnership. Thus, the bronc and rider today may represent something entirely new to contemporary collectors. There is more focus on just the animal in contemporary bronzes. We now know the names and other information about legendary animals who played a vital role in developing today’s stock and the animals are seen as athletes in their own right.150 Outlaw (Figure 37) by Richard Loffler is one such piece. As a collector of Western American art, the Calgary Stampede commissioned Loffler to create a monumental bronze of their prized bull to immortalize him forever within the collection.

Figure 37. Richard Loffler, Outlaw, 2009, Bronze, 33” Private Collector, Regina, SK.

149 Susan Nance, “Who was Greasy Sal? Outlaw Horses and the Spirit of Calgary in the Automobile Age,” Histoire sociale/Social History, 49:99 (2016) 369. 150 Nance, “Who was Greasy Sal? Outlaw Horses and the Spirit of Calgary in the Automobile Age,” 369.

74 Even though there are some collectable contemporary bronzes, some collectors still strive to own pieces by the old masters, such as Remington, and an original Bronco Buster (Figure 1) is a goal for many. These pieces can reach up to $2,617,000.00, such as the one that sold in 2007 at Christie’s art auction. There is one problem when it comes to Remington bronzes, and that is the fact that they are very easy to reproduce, and because of this, there are many forgeries in today’s market.151 Fraudsters are also drawn to Remington pieces because the copyright for them ran out in the 1960s. Although most collectors want an original Bronco Buster (Figure 1), some individuals who collect Western American art only as decoration would accept a replica as long as they know that they are purchasing a replica.152 Replicas to some still hold the same symbolic quality as the original, and in some cases, the symbol is more important than the authenticity of a piece.

4.3 INDIGENOUS

There has been some hard criticism of many historic bronzes and the way they portray

Indigenous people. In the past, these pieces have been extremely collectable and are still valuable today. The contemporary controversies engendered by these depictions are undeniable in the fact that the majority of artists who created them paid no heed to the cultures of Indigenous people and only wanted to create an interesting piece to sell a collector. The exception to this was

Charlie Russell, who sympathized with First Nations and Metis people. Even though Russell tried to bring Indigenous rights to his audiences’ attention, he would unwittingly partake in

151 Phyllis Berman, “Bronco Bunco,” Forbes, May (2006) 218-219. 152 Berman, “Bronco Bunco,” 218-219.

75 cultural appropriation, often mixing interesting attire from various cultures.153 For example, a piece by Russell that sold for $198,000 at the 2002 Coeur D’Alene auction titled Counting

Coup (Figure 38) has inaccurate attire for the warriors, and it is a romanticized image that disregards the material culture of the individuals portrayed. This particular piece, initially described as portraying a battle between Blood and Sioux warriors, can be analyzed further by looking at the regalia the warriors are wearing which, when put into perspective, more accurately reflects the attire of Blackfoot and Cree warriors.154 Although the racist connotations in Russell’s sculptures have not been examined to the fullest extent, and art interpretation is not the primary goal of this thesis, Russell’s narratives provide insight into the fact that he did attempt to advocate for Indigenous rights and wanted Indigenous people to have the opportunity for a better life. Not to say that his assumptions and statements were correct, nor the ways he portrayed their situations accurate, but he did not intentionally capitalize on their struggles either. His work, as it has been analyzed, was more of an attempt to provide a social statement that the way Indigenous people were treated was unjust. Collectors purchasing this work at the time may not have been perceptive of or receptive to Russell’s attempts for social justice, and they likely purchased the work because of the image itself, without understanding their own settler prejudices and biases.

Russell’s artwork at first glance appears to reflect an imperialist nostalgia; however, despite being a product of the culture of his time he did, if subtly, reflect on the negative impacts that settler culture had on Indigenous people and the land. Although he painted and sculpted

Indigenous people, he did not claim to know them, and a great deal of his knowledge came from

153 Alexander Nemerov, "Projecting the Future: Film and Race in the Art of Charles Russell," American Art, 8:1 (Winter, 1994) 70-89; J. Gray Sweeney, “Part Two Imagining Race in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History, Ed. Kymberly N. Pinder (New York: Routledge, 1979) 69; Dippie, “In the Enemy’s Country: Western Art’s Uneasy Status” 14-16. 154 Sherry Farrell-Racette, Email Conversation, April 21, 2018

76 his brief time spent as a young cowboy with Alberta Blackfeet.155 His combination of Indigenous regalia in his subjects, though perceived as cultural appropriation, was therefore based on ignorance and not direct disrespect.156 Today, there are a few First Nations bronze sculptors, such as Doug Hyde, who sculpt their people the way they know them and the way they see themselves and their culture. Hyde’s most expensive piece was sold in 2014 at the National

Cowboy and Western Heritage Prix de West for $20,000. These artists have taken the colonial method and turned it on the colonizers to provide collectors with a more culturally accurate piece. However, the appropriation of Indigenous cultures by both collectors and artists is still an issue.

Doug Hyde’s work is highly recognizable due to his ability to recreate the look of stone with bronze. He has been accepted into the world of Western American art even though his sculptures do deviate from the highly representational images from other Western American artists (Figure 39). His inspirations come from stories and legends that he was told as a young boy by his grandfather and other elders.157 The fact that his work deviates from the main aspects of the genre and is still sought after by collectors suggests that the genre is changing over time.

What also sets Hyde apart from a number of other Western American artists is that he is a trained artist. He studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hyde’s work is ground-breaking, he received the Arizona Governor’s Award in 2018 and he has had the opportunity to create monumental pieces for the city of Joseph in Oregon, Harrah’s Resort in

Southern California, and the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.

155 Raphael Cristy, “Charlie’s Hidden Agenda: Realism and Nostalgia in C.M Russell’s Stories about Indians,” Western Heritage: A Selection of Wrangler Award-Winning Articles, ed. Paul A. Hutton, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2011. 156 Sherry Farrell-Racette, Email Conversation, April 21, 2018 157 Doug Hyde, Doug Hyde Interview, Briscoe Western Art Museum, 2014;

Figure 38. Charlie Russell, Counting Coup, 1905, Bronze, 16” Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX. Photo by Museum

Figure 39. Doug Hyde, Candlelight Vigil, Bronze, 13” Broadmoor Galleries, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Photo by Gallery

78 4.4 WESTERN LIFESTYLE

Western lifestyle-inspired bronzes can be very collectable. The depictions of range riders, women, and children, among other subjects, are viewed as bits of nostalgia and fetch a fair price from buyers wanting to remember a piece from their past, either real or imagined. These pieces often have rich patination and dreamlike qualities. Often, Western American art is critiqued as being a romanticized version of the West and not showing the true nature of what was a rough and hard way of life. Although contemporary artists of today focus on modern times, they do sometimes reflect on the past, which has been softened by popular culture. The more someone can relate to a piece, the higher the price it will acquire. Another critique that has been made about these pieces is the portrayal of women in them. The way women were portrayed in pieces from the late 1890s to around the late 1960s was undoubtedly sexist because that was the nature of society in those days.158 Today, with female artists like Veryl Goodnight, whose sculptures of women as the unsung heroes and backbone of the West have become sought after and demand prices no less than $2,000, the iconography has begun to turn a new leaf. Goodnight’s most influential piece, created in 1994 and titled No Turning Back (Figure 39), is an ode to the women who travelled to America, risking everything to create a better life for themselves and their families. More often than not, in traditional Western American art, women were caught in the shadow of the men. Veryl breaks past this barrier and creates pieces that can tell their stories and still maintain collectible. No Turning Back (Figure 39) has been sculpted as both a large-scale monumental piece and a smaller version, with the larger selling for an average of $28,250 and the smaller selling for $2,875.

158 Corlann Gee Bush, “The Way We Weren't: Images of Women and Men in Cowboy Art,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 7:3 (1984): 73-78.

Figure 40. Veryl Goodnight, No Turning Back, 1994, Bronze, 16” Sold to Private Collector, Photo by Veryl Goodnight, Mancos, CO.

4.5 DOMESTIC ANIMALS

Domestic animals are of particular interest to some collectors and can fetch prices of up to $25,000 in sales. When it comes to domestic animals, the pricing seems to depend upon the artists who create them and not necessarily the subject or its iconography. The horses and cattle created by more contemporary artists, such as Richard Loffler and Veryl Goodnight, are often more expensive than those by Charlie Russell and Charlie Beil. There are various reasons why certain collectors collect pieces revolving around domestic animals, and each one is different.

Dogs, for instance, are mainly collected by hunters, as many of the Western bronze sculptures on the market are depictions of sporting breeds. These pieces are usually not very sought after unless the collector commissions the artist to create them. Cattle, on the other hand, sell more frequently. The cattle typically created in Western bronze sculptures are longhorns. Longhorn

80 cattle mean different things to each collector, but there are some common themes within them.

The longhorn was developed from Spanish stock in South America; however, it was perfected in the state of Texas. These cattle had to be tough and able to travel long distances; they also had a more mild temperament than some of the other breeds. Their hardiness is often seen as symbolic of the strength and resilience of the American people. It has also been said that Longhorn bulls, or bulls in general, are often collected by wealthy businessmen as a symbol of the “Bullish market” within America.159 Like the depictions of dogs, some collectors will commission individual artists to sculpt their best stock animals, and over time these pieces may or may not enter the market again. Horses are often seen as the sole subject in a piece. The bronzes focused only on the horse can be quite collectable as they appeal not only to collectors of Western

American art but to a larger public interested in horses. Most of these bronzes are of specific animals, so they will always be more valuable to one person than to a group of other collectors.

As an iconography, depictions of the longhorn are more valuable than other cattle, but that is due to the symbolism attached to them that the others seem to lack on their own.160

159 Frank C. Sharp, “Chapter 9: How Would different Academic Disciplines Analyze and Explain the Phenomenon of the Longhorn as a Symbol,” The History and Symbolism of Texas Longhorn Cattle, Dissertation, University of Texas at Arlington (May 2000) 119 – 147. 160 Sharp, “Chapter 9: How Would different Academic Disciplines Analyze and Explain the Phenomenon of the Longhorn as a Symbol,” University of Texas at Arlington (May 2000) 119 – 147.

81 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

Western American art is a marginalized genre and will be for years to come: the nationalist and racist history of the work cannot be denied. However, the work is steadily growing and is showing promise of inclusiveness and less misrepresentation. Western bronze continues to expand society’s understanding of culture and its iconography is as relevant today as it was in 1895. This is often because of a collector’s and artist’s nostalgia for past histories of the

West in both America and Canada.161 For the collector in an urban setting, a sculpture of a trail of buffalo can represent renewal and freedom. For the collector in a rural setting, a pioneer woman looking to the distance can represent the dreams and resilience of their ancestors, which they hope will continue for future generations in North America. In areas within Canada, and some regions of the United States, new cultural movements are teaching settler cultures to recognize the fraught relationship that settler colonialism has brought and stand in solidarity with the dreams, resilience and hopes of Indigenous people as well.

In conclusion, there are two points to make. The first is that the use of the digital databases to analyze art and gather information is crucial in studying its market. Although it is time-consuming, the technology available to researchers today simplifies our studies and allows us to see trends that would otherwise be near-impossible. It allows for a narrowing down of search fields and has the potential to act as a tool for artists, collectors, and organizations who may want to see things such as iconographical popularity, sizing for display or pricing trends of a specific piece. Because Western American art is a more recent and commercial genre, it is relatively simple to find auction results for the work. Secondly, because of the marketability of the genre, the driving force for its growth is a collective synergy of artists, collectors, and sale

161 Anderson, “Introduction,” Holy War: Cowboys, Indians & 9/11s, 2-27.

82 organizations. The strong network of these entities helps to fuel interest in the work and expose it to audiences who may not otherwise have had the opportunity to see it. The digital research completed for this project has allowed for the opportunity to pinpoint the various changes in the work from 1895 to 2019, today, and it can be seen that even though its marginalization is a deterrent for many art enthusiasts, the genre should continue to grow and remain relevant.

This thesis is limited to analysis of the market for Western American art (specifically bronze sculpture) and its hold on Canadian and American enthusiasts over the years, discovering what collectors are willing to pay and why there is still a market for it. What has limited discussion is an in-depth look at the controversies that Western American art presents. This thesis suggests that we can open up conversations about these pieces in order to gain the perspective of those who have not had a voice. These discussions could assist collectors, dealers, and galleries so that these works can be displayed with minimal concern, and so viewers can be educated on what these pieces mean in their various contexts. A more in-depth study on Western

American art would include a look at the most valuable and popular pieces, grouped with the use of the Heurist database. It would also include an analysis of these works through both the

Western and Indigenous perspectives. By grounding this next research step in Indigenous theory, it could build a new perspective around the genre, and the discovery of new ideas could take place, thus advancing the dialogue in terms of modern academic practice.

83 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adam, Georgina. Big Bucks: The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. 2014.

Anderson, Mark C. “Introduction,” Holy War: Cowboys, Indians, and 9/11s. Regina: University of Regina Press 2016. 2-27

Antique Trader, “Shrady’s Elk Buffalo bronze sells for $276K, sets new world record.” Antique Trader Antiques Auction News, April 9, 2015.

Ange, Olivia and David Berliner. Anthropology and Nostalgia. New York: Berghahn Books. 2015.

AskART.com (Firm). askART. 2019. http://askart.com/

Aquila, Richard. Wanted Dead or Alive. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 1996.

Back, Erica. “Collecting on the Cloud: The Impact of the Internet on the Art Market and Collecting Practices.” Sotheby’s Institute of Art. 2014.

Baer, April. “Native Artist Creates New Bronze Statue for Joseph’s Main Street,” Oregon Public Broadcasting. 2019. https://www.opb.org/news/article/doug-hyde-sculpture-joseph- oregon/

Balestrieri, James (Jim). E-mail conversation with J. M. Bartfield Gallery Director, November 15, 2019.

Bastian M., Heymann S., Jacomy M. Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. 2009.

Bear, John. “Boulder’s Leanin’ Tree Museum to close after 40 years,” Boulder Daily Camera. March 17, 2017.

Belk, R. W. Collecting in a Consumer Society. London: Routledge. 1995.

Berg-Fulton, Tracey, A. Langmead, T. Lombardi, D. Newbury, and C. Nygren. “A Role Based Model for Successful Collaboration in Digital Art History.” DAH-Journal 3(2018):152- 180

Berman, Phyllis. “Bronco Bunco.” Forbes. May (2006): 218-219.

Bold, Christine. “The Rough Riders at Home and Abroad: Cody, Roosevelt, Remington and the Imperialist Hero.” The Canadian Review of American Studies, 18:3. (1987): 321-350.

84 Brown, Christie. “Your Own National Gallery”. Forbes, 147. (June 1991): 123.

Codell, Julie. "The Art Press and Art Market, the Artist as an ‘Economic Man’." The Rise of the Modern Art Market, Ed. Pamela Fletcher and Anne Helmreich. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011: 129.

Cook, Thomas J. Illuminating the Path: Research and Development Agenda for Visual Analytics. IEEE-Press. 2005.

Cristy, Raphael. “Charlie’s Hidden Agenda: Realism and Nostalgia in C.M. Russell’s Stories About Indians.” Western Heritage: A Selection of Wrangler Award-Winning Articles, ed. P.A. Hutton. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 2011.

Cronon, William, George Miles and Jay Gitlin. Under an Open Sky. New York: W. W. Norton. 1992.

Dahlstrom, Kylie. “The West in Bronze,” Heurist. Johnson, I. Sydney: University of Sydney. 2019.

Danto, Arthur C. “From Matchbooks to Masterpieces: Toward a Philosophy of Collecting.” Aperture, Connoisseurs & Collections, 124. (Summer 1991): 2-3

Daschuk, James W. “Introduction.” Clearing the Plains. Regina: University of Regina Press. 2014. 9-22.

Davis, Fred. Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia. New York: The Free Press, 1979.

Dippie, Brian W. “Drawn to the West.” Western Historical Quarterly, 35: 1. (2004): 4-26.

____ Dippie, Brian W. “One West, One Myth: Transborder Continuity in Western Art.” American Review of Canadian Studies, 33: 4. (2003): 509-541.

____. “Western Art Don’t Get No Respect: A Fifty-Year Perspective.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History, 51: 4. (2001): 68-71.

Drucker, Johanna. “Is There a ‘Digital’ Art History?” Visual Resources 29:1-2. (2013): 5-13.

Dubucs, Jacques. “Digital Humanities Foundations.” New Publication Cultures in the Humanities: Exploring the Paradigm Shift. Ed. Peter Davidhazi. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. 2014. 21-35.

Earley-Spadoni. “Spatial History, Deep Mapping and Digital Storytelling.” Journal of Archaeological Science. 84(2017): 95-102.

85 Ekserdjian, David. ed. Bronze. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc. 2012.

Ellis, Jim. “Introduction,” Calgary: City of Animals. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. (2017): 11-16.

Farrell-Racette, Sherry. e-mail conversation, April 21, 2018

Feigenbaum, Gail and Inge J. Reist. ed. Provenance: An Alternate History of Art. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute. 2012.

Fletcher, Pamela. “Reflections on Digital Art History.” CAA Reviews (2015)

Fletcher, Pamela, and Anne Helmreich. The Rise of the Modern Art Market in London, 1850- 1939. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 2011.

Gee Bush, Corlann. “The Way We Weren't: Images of Women and Men in Cowboy Art,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 7:3 (1984): 73-78

Glenbow Museum. “The Davidson Gift.” The Glenbow Magazine. 1980.

Google Maps (Online). Google Maps. 2019. https://www.google.ca/maps

Hallsten McGarry, Susan. “Ed Trumble - Collector Extraordinaire,” SouthWest Art Magazine. October, 2008.

Hanan, Zahava. “Introduction,” An Alberta Bestiary: Animals of the Rolling Hills. Calgary: University of Calgary Press (2004): 11-14.

Hassrick, Peter H. and Brian Dippie. Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on Western American Art. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 2007.

Heritage Auctions (Website) https://www.ha.com/

Heurist Network (Online). University of Sydney, Sydney Australia. 2019. http://heuristnetwork.org/

Houseman, Lee Ann. “Current Practices and Problems in Combatting Illegality in the Art Market.” Seton Hall Law Review, 12:506 (1982): 506-567.

Hyde, Doug. Doug Hyde Interview. San Antonio: Briscoe Western Art Museum. 2014. https://vimeo.com/89954051

Hyde and Nebeker. “Cultural Connections with Bill Nebeker and Doug Hyde.” Prescott: Smoki Art Museum. 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMV1UDODa1w&t=2117s

Keim, Daniel A.; Mansmann, Florian; Stoel, Andreas; Ziegler, Hartmut. Visual Analytics.

86 University of Konstanz, Germany. http://infovis.uni-konstanz.de

Livingstone, Fellows, Wilson, and Dippie. “Return to Calgary: Charlie Russell and the 1919 Victory Stampede.” Seminar. Calgary. July 4, 2019.

Loffler, Richard. E-mail conversation with artist, February 20, 2018.

____. E-mail conversation with artist, November 15, 2019.

Lounsberry, Lorain. “Capturing Western Legends: Russell and Remington and the Canadian Frontier.” Alberta History. (2004): 2-3.

Lutley, Travis. Conversation at Glenbow. Calgary: Glenbow Museum. July 4, 2019

Manning, A. and Serpell, J. “Introduction,” Animals and Human Society Changing Perspectives, New York: Routledge Press (2014): xi-xii

McClure, Ryan. “Cultivating Young Collectors: Engaging the Next Generation of Art Patrons.” Sotheby’s Institute of Art. 2012.

McDonald, Judith. “Essay: Bison Restoration in the Great Plains and the Challenge of Their Management,” Great Plains Research, 11: 1 (Spring 2001): 104-106, 109-112, 115-116.

McNulty, Tom. Art Market Research: A Guide to Methods and Sources. Jefferson: McFarland & Company Inc. 2014.

Medicine Man Gallery. “Doug Hyde Profile.” Tucson: Medicine Man Gallery. https://www.medicinemangallery.com/doug-hyde-biography

____. “Veryl Goodnight Profile.” Tucson: Medicine Man Gallery. https://www.medicinemangallery.com/veryl-goodnight-biography

Mercuriali, Giacomo. “Digital Art History and the Computational Imagination.” DAH-Journal 3(2018): 140-151.

Meyers, Laura. “Cowboy Art Corrals Collectors.” Art Business News (February 2003)

Midgly, Mary. “Bridge Building at Last,” Animals and Human Society Changing Perspectives, New York: Routledge Press (2014): 188-194

Moody, McFarland, B.-d. Dynamic network visualization. American Journal of Sociology 2005. 110(4):1206–1241.

Murdoch, David H. The American West: The Invention of a Myth. Reno: University of Nevada Press. 2001.

Nance, Susan. “Who was Greasy Sal? Outlaw Horses and the Spirit of Calgary in the Automobile Age.” Histoire sociale/Social History 49:99 (2016): 369-387.

Nelson, Robert L. “Review: Emptiness in the Colonial Gaze: Labor, Property, and Nature,” International Labor and Working-Class History, 79 (Spring 2011): 161-172

Nemerov, Alexander. "Projecting the Future: Film and Race in the Art of Charles Russell." American Art, 8:1 (Winter, 1994): 70-89

Nielson, Carmen J. “Caricaturing Colonial Space: Indigenized, Feminized Bodies and Anglo- Canadian Identity, 1873–94,” The Canadian Historical Review, 96: 4 (December 2015): 477-506.

Nottage, Mollring, and Goodnight. No Turning Back: The Art of Veryl Goodnight. Mancos: Goodnight Fine Art Ltd. 2011.

Oellette, Dianne. “Human + Bison.” Marking the Land. (March 12, 2017) http://markingtheland.ca/human-bison/

Pearce, Susan. Museums, Objects, and Collections. New York: Smithsonian Press. 1992. 43

Penaloza, Lisa. “Consuming the American West: Animating Cultural Meaning and Memory at a Stock Show and Rodeo.” Journal of Consumer Research. 28, (December 2001): 369-398.

Perer, S. Balancing systematic and flexible exploration of social networks. Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on. 2006. 12(5):693–700.

Platt, Nina. “Content and Value in the Secondary Sporting Art Market.” Thesis. New York: Sotheby’s Institute of Art (2011): 17-20.

Rollins and O’Connor. Hollywood’s Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film. Louisville: The University Press of Kentucky. 2003.

Rosenbaum, Tracy. “An Art Lover’s Guide to Western Art Week in Great Falls March 20 – 24,” Great Falls: Great Falls Tribune. (March 18, 2019).

Rusted, Brian. The Art of the Calgary Stampede. Calgary: The Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary. 2010.

____. “A Wonderful Picture: Western Art and the Calgary Stampede.” Icon, Brand, Myth: The Calgary Stampede, ed. Max Foran. Athabasca University Press. 2008.

____. “Performing Visual Discourse: Cowboy Art and Institutional Practice.” Text and

88 Performance Quarterly, 26: 2 (April 2006): 115-137

____. In progress. “Stampedagogy”. Calgary: University of Calgary.

Schmitter, Monika Anne. “The display of distinction: Art collecting and social status in early sixteenth-century Venice.” ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, University of Michigan. 1997.

Scottsdale Art Auction (Online). Scottsdale Art Auction, Scottsdale AZ. 2019. https://scottsdaleartauction.com/

Scriver, Mary S. Bronze Inside and Out: A Biographical Memoir of Bob Scriver. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2007.

Serota, Kaitlin L. “Art & Cultural Capital: The Economics of Art Investment.” Dartmouth College. 2017.

Sharp, Frank C. “Chapter 9: How Would different Academic Disciplines Analyze and Explain the Phenomenon of the Longhorn as a Symbol,” The History and Symbolism of Texas Longhorn Cattle. Dissertation. Arlington: University of Texas at Arlington (May 2000): 119 – 147.

Slatta, Richard W. The Mythical West: An Encyclopedia of Legend, Lore, and Popular Culture. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc. 2001

Stewart, Rick. Charles M. Russell, Sculptor. Amon Carter Museum; New York: Distributed by H.N. Abrams. 1994.

Stewart, Susan. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. Durham: Duke University Press. 1993.

Stoeltje, Beverly J. “Paredes and the Hero: The North American Cowboy Revisited.” Journal of American Folklore, 125:495 (2012): 45-68.

Stone, Ted. “Introduction.” The Complete Cowboy Reader: Remembering the Open Range. Red Deer: Red Deer College Press. 1997:11-12

Sweeney, J. Gray. “Part Two Imagining Race in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History. Ed. Kymberly N. Pinder. New York: Routledge, 1979. 69

Thomas Nygard Gallery. Recounting the Old West II: Important Paintings, Sculpture, and Works on Paper. Bozeman: Thomas Nygard Gallery. 2003.

Tolles, Thayer and Smith, Thomas B. ed. The American West in Bronze. New Haven: Yale

89 University Press. 2013.

____. “Frederic Remington (1861–1909).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2000.

Torbit, Stephen C. and LaRose, Louis. “A Commentary on Bison and Cultural Restoration: Partnership Between the National Wildlife Federation and the InterTribal Bison Cooperative,” Great Plains Research, 11: 1 (Spring 2001): 177.

Tousley, Nancy. “Western Art Worth $750,000 given to Glenbow Museum.” The Calgary Herald. June 18, 1980.

Turnbull, Gillian. “Authorship and Nostalgia in Contemporary Cowboy Repertoire.” Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies 16:1(2016): 58-67.

Vittoria, Shannon. “Theodore Roosevelt: Patron of American Western Bronzes,” New York: The Met Museum. 2014.

Wilmes, Tom. “The Art of Utility.” American Cowboy, October-November 2012.

Winkler, Sandra K. “Masculine Identity and Culture in the Work of Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell and John Ford.” Thesis. Long Beach: California State University. 2010.

Wright, Will. “Introduction.” The Wild West: The Mythical Cowboy and Social Theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. 2001. 1-14.

Zweig, Benjamin. “Forgotten Genealogies: Brief Reflections on the History of Digital Art History.” DAH-Journal 1(2015): 39-49