UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING ART MUSEUM 2010

People of the West: A Collectors Vision Selections from the Erivan and Helga Haub Collection

PURPOSE OF THIS PACKET: EXPLORE: To provide K-12 teachers with background information Students will investigate the cultural and social context on the UW Art Museum (UAM) exhibition and for the art in People of the West, considering the events suggested age appropriate applications for exploring portrayed, the historical time periods, the stories that concepts, meaning, and artistic intent of work exhibited, grew out of the West and the implications on our before, during, and after the museum visit. cultural identity.

CURRICULAR UNIT TOPIC: CREATE: Teachers and students examine iconic imagery found Students will be given time to practice sketching, in People of the West and think critically about what this drawing and writing and may create an artwork that tells us about our understanding of culture in America. reflects their individual identity or culture. Work on art The focus of this educational packet and curricular unit projects may occur in the UAM Shelton Studio or in is to observe, question, explore, create and reflect. their school art or classroom.

OBSERVE: REFLECT: Students and teachers will observe the examples of Students will evaluate their final art products with Western Art in People of the West. They will look other students from their classes and with teachers closely at the and sculpture, exploring the and museum educators. They will receive feedback ideas and themes presented in the subject matter, on the art work and the concepts behind the making and the artistic qualities of the work, including style, of the art work. After this process, each person may technique and materials. write an essay about their art, the artist, or their museum experience. QUESTION: Students will have an opportunity to read, write, sketch, and listen to teachers and museum educators, and then, to come up with questions about the work they see, the cultural context and the concepts behind the art work and the artists who created it. Students will question the materials and techniques used and their own responses to the art work in the exhibition. People of the West: A Collectors Vision

Charles Schreyvogel (American, 1861 – 1912), The Last Drop, roman bronze works, 1903, cast no. 49, 11-5/8 x 18-3/4 x 5-1/4 inches, Erivan and Helga Haub Family Collection of Western Art,

INTRODUCTION Indian cultures and the archetypical experiences of The art of the American West began its these people. development in the 19th century with the journeys As contemporary Western artists today continue of artists into the unknown vastness of the West. to explore the meanings of the American West, Correspondingly filling the role of explorers, the they owe a debt to the generations of artists before artists created images that conveyed a great deal them. The beliefs and values of the American of information about the mysterious land and the Indian traditions, the culture and iconic image of remarkable experiences that go along with it. the , glimpses of the Hispanic village, and However, in a departure from the popular the place of each in the Western landscape and landscape imagery that typically defines the Western in connection with each other are represented genre, People of the West – A Collector’s Vision invites through both iconic imagery and in the narrative- the audience to view the American West through realist tradition. Spanning from the early explorer the cultural traditions of the time interpreted artists to contemporary, these artists depicted artistically by depicting the people who inhabited the experiences inherent in settling an area that it. With a variety of styles, Western artists reached contribute to a rich visual inheritance revealing viewers around the world by depicting what they the importance culturally, socially, visually and believed represented American and American historically, of Western art as a genre. - Text Label for People of the West: A Collectors Vision

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BACKGROUND OF American Indian cultures and the epic experiences ERIVAN AND HELGA HAUB of these people. Historically, it is unfortunate that no artist Erivan and Helga Haub were born, raised, and accompanied Captain Meriwether Lewis and live primarily in Germany, however, they fell Lieutenant William Clark on the first expedition in love with Wyoming’s landscape and culture across the American continent to the Pacific Ocean and began collecting Western American art in in 1804 to 1806. It wasn’t until 1820 that artists 1984. Since their introduction to Wyoming and traveled West and first sketched glimpses of the subsequent acquisition of a ranch near Pinedale, Rocky Mountains, although seen at a great distance. the Haubs enjoy each summer in Wyoming. Over After the Civil War, the scale and ambition of the years, the Haubs have amassed one of the most western exploration increased, as did the pictorial important collections of Western American art in representations. Artists such as Albert Bierstadt private hands. This has been accomplished with were fascinated with the dramatic landscape, the guidance of their friends, Ted and Christine creating immense canvases filled with a natural Mollring, former owners of Trailside Galleries paradise that is beautiful, ageless, and overwhelming in Jackson Hole and Scottsdale. However, most at the same time. The landscape became the subject, importantly, the Haubs have always collected what the primary character, totally devoid of humans, they love, and through this have created a unique which were commonly only added as a small collection that embraces a vision of the West. afterthought to demonstrate scale. The people of the West were certainly not the main focus of the HISTORY paintings, and these landscape images are among The art of the American West is a vital genre of the most popularly associated with the Western American art, yet historically its importance has tradition. been largely ignored in a time in which the art People of the West – A Collector’s Vision invites the world is evaluated by European standards. Before audience to view the art of the American West in a the development of Abstract in departure from the landscape that typically defines post-World War II New York, the center of the art world existed in Paris and everything beyond was compared and evaluated against that representation. American art, in any form, was considered second- class compared to its larger European sister. Yet, the art of the American West began its development nearly a century before with the journeys of artists into the unknown vastness of the West. Correspondingly filling the role of explorers, the artists created images that conveyed a great deal of information about the mysterious land and the critical experiences that go along with it. Because Western artists are wildly varying in their styles, they reached viewers around the world, depicting Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), Departure of an Indian War Party, Oil on board, 17 x 24 inches, The Erivan and Helga Haub Family Collection of what they believed represented American and Western Art

Page 3 Education Packet People of the West: A Collectors Vision the genre by viewing instead the cultural traditions and pieces of the landscape and life of the West to of the West interpreted artistically by depicting the later combine into a larger image, which in the end people who inhabited the landscape. American never depicted a true location. He strived to create a Indians, from the plains and pueblos, and the picturesque vision of West. Departure of an Indian western cowboy are represented through both iconic War Party departs from his popular large-scale imagery and the storytelling tradition. Portrayals of paintings that were meant to overwhelm the viewer; the soldiers in the West and the encounters between it instead provides a small, intimate, iconic view of them and the American Indians are seen from both Plains Indian life. The scene, likely from his trip to points of view, along with the rarely depicted images the Wyoming Territory in 1859, is calm and idyllic, of Hispanic life and traditions. The artists included portraying his sense of the unspoiled beauty of the in this exhibition span from the early explorer artists West through its inhabitants. to contemporary, and a variety of media are used. Continuing the tradition after Bierstadt, many The wide-range of artists included establishes a Western artists created works that are suffused broad sense of the West and reveals the importance, with the feeling of an innocent and serene land. To culturally, socially, visually and historically, of create this atmosphere, the Taos Society of Artists Western art as a genre. depicted the Pueblo Indians as an integral part of During the earliest expeditions, Western artists nature, illustrating a balance between the people and became welcome members to document the the landscape through their traditions. The images journeys. However, Albert Bierstadt approached are unassuming depictions of common, yet iconic, the West in a manner that separated him from the events among the American Indians, demonstrated, explorer artists that preceded him. His approach for example, by a rabbit hunt in O.E. Berninghaus’ was far from documentary, as he gathered bits Taos Rabbit Hunt and the time-honored

Olaf Wieghorst (1899 1988), The Stranger, Oil on canvas, 28 x 38 inches, The Erivan and Helga Haub Family Collection of Western Art

Page 4 Education Packet People of the West: A Collectors Vision ceremonial dances in The Harvest Dance of the Pueblo Indians by Joseph H. Sharp. At the same time, other images of the American Indian began to tell the story of plight and hardship associated with life in the American West, a stark contrast to the idyllic images of Taos Society Artists and the earlier picturesque art of Bierstadt. These less idyllic works depict a particular event or consequence. Frederic Remington’s Conjuring Back the Buffalo is a specific example of an artist depicting a tragedy that directly affected the cultural life of the American Indian. The near extinction of the buffalo signaled the deterioration of a ritual and way of life the Plains Indians had followed for centuries. Western works of this nature successfully combine the storytelling element with iconic references. Like Remington, other artists have traditionally used the buffalo skull symbolically to represent the decline of the buffalo and imbue the notion of the passing of the traditional lifestyles of the West. A frequent topic in the narrative-realist theme in Western art is the conflict of the old and new, which is often depicted by placing the traditional American Indian culture in juxtaposition with such modern technologies of the day as the railroad or wagon train. Charles M. Russell’s Indians Scouting Alexander Phimister Proctor (American, 1860-1950), The Buckaroo, roman bronze works, 1915, 28-3/8 x 20-1/2 x 8 inches, Erivan and a Wagon Train depicts the event through the eyes Helga Haub Family Collection of Western Art of the American Indians. Placed at the center of the image, the figures command dominance over artist exhibits his sympathetic feelings toward the the land, including the approaching wagon train in American Indian tribes, evident in the foreground the distance, suggesting a historic moment in the as he depicts an old Indian man clutching a young transitory traditions in the American West. child, perhaps symbolizing this more peaceful This confrontation is often depicted as non- meeting of the old and new. aggressive, as seen in the work by Tom Lovell, These depictions of conflict brought a new period who depicts an actual documented event from the of realist aesthetics that threatened the metaphorical expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1803 in Captain and idyllic painters like Bierstadt. One such artist, Clark and the Air Gun. Lovell depicts a peaceful Charles Schreyvogel, although better known for his exchange as American Indians look on in awe and depictions of the violent confrontation between the trepidation as Captain Clark demonstrates the mounted soldiers and American Indians in the post- new technology for them. At the same time the Civil War era, used this realistic approach in The

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Last Drop to illustrate the bond between the soldier own knowledge and actual experiences, and, as a and horse. The figures are stringently executed result, one of the most persistent themes in Western while the background landscape is depicted loosely, art is the cowboy. Several artists made many trips causing the viewer to focus solely on the accuracy of to the West and became leaders in illustrating the figures. Because Schreyvogel employed the Western myth by using the cowboy as a to depict the figures, he was later able to easily romanticized character, emphasizing heroic ideas portray this iconic scene in bronze, which furthered and larger-than-life status. Sculptor A. Phimister the popularity of realistic depictions of figures in Proctor, who grew up in the West, used his extensive Western art. understanding of western life to create images that In addition to observing the cultural traditions commented on the relationship between the cowboy of American Indians, many artists drew upon their and his horse. In the bronze The Buckaroo, Proctor captures the struggle between man and horse by depicting a cowboy straddling a bucking horse, or bronco, combining grace with striking kinetic action in the sculpture. The cowboy image has become an icon for the romantic nostalgia of the West. Western artists also turned to a theme that connected the many geographic locations in the West: the simple lives of the working people. Artists turned to the rarely depicted Hispanic population to illustrate the traditional lifestyles of the Western villages. Depictions often include burros, open markets, rustic dwellings, and the rural countryside, which were dramatically different in relation to the iconic and narrative imagery of the cowboy and American Indian lifestyles. Artists Clark Hulings and Robert Lougheed both depicted Hispanic western life as one in which people are always toiling, either hauling wood or herding sheep, in dull, cold landscapes with bare trees and broken structures. While life in the West has changed since the first artist explorers began to document and preserve the cultural traditions of its inhabitants, artists still find inspiration today in the rich pictorial roots of Western American art. Many contemporary artists adhere to the narrative-realist approach, such as Martin Grelle whose Camp Meet and Mules depicts a moment in traditional American Indian culture Gerald Cassidy (American, 1879-1934), Navajo with a Lightening Pattern Blanket, oil on canvas, 34 x 21 inches, Erivan and Helga Haub Family that no longer exists; it is an image filtered through Collection of Western Art the artist’s imagination. There are other artists who

Page 6 Education Packet People of the West: A Collectors Vision depart from the traditional stylistic methods to convey Western imagery. Bill Schenck combines Photo-Realism with to create images in a flat, simplified manner with vibrant colors to illustrate his characters such as in An Ancient Place. By combining traditional iconic characters with his artistic roots of Pop Art and Photo-Realism, he conveys to his audience that the historical fact and epic myth of the West can overlap. As contemporary Western artists explore the meanings of the American West, they owe a debt to the generations of artists before them. In 1820, the West was an uncharted dramatic world. Through their work, the early Western artists showed the beliefs and values of the American Indian traditions, the culture and iconic image of the cowboy, the glimpses of Hispanic village society, and the place of each in the Western landscape and in connection with each other. These artists depicted the experiences inherent in settling an area and contributed a rich visual inheritance. - Nicole M. Crawford UW Art Museum Curator of Collections Veryl Goodnight (American, b. 1947), Back from the Brink (Maquette), bronze, 2000, no. 21, ed. 30 , 24 x 17 x 19 inches, Lent by the artist LESSON OVERVIEW Students will place works in this exhibit in the of the American West by thinking about their cultural and geographic context of the American own identity and how it is shaped by culture. Art West. In examining the iconic imagery in People projects in the Studio will reflect this discussion. of the West the students will begin to think about Students may illustrate their own identity, how our identity, in part, is shaped by the culture/ community, or culture. This can take many forms cultures around us. and will be determined through discussions between During their time in the gallery, students will be the museum educator and the classroom teacher asked to use a sketchbook or journal. For classes/ students without journals, sketch paper will be provided. Students will be asked to respond to ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS the exhibit by building word lists, writing down thoughts or questions, and by sketching artworks on GRADES K-6 display. These journals will be used as reference to • What is culture? create art in the Shelton Studio. • Define identity. In the Shelton Studio (or back in their school • Where is the American West? What is its classroom), students will extend their knowledge geography? Climate? Plants? Animals?

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• What is an icon? • What can we learn about the cultures in the PRE-VISIT ACTIVITIES American West by looking at these artworks? In order to prepare students for their museum • How are works of art used to tell a story? visit and extend learning possibilities, we suggest that teachers and students consider the following GRADES 7-12 activities: • How does culture influence the style of the • Read about the history, culture, climate, artist? geography, and natural resources of the • How is the American West mythologized in American West. the artwork in People of the West? • Learn about the plants and animals that • Compare the culture/lifestyle of the various inhabit the American West. peoples represented in this exhibit. • Read stories, fiction and non-fiction, about • What role does culture play in forming the various cultures/groups that have lived in identity? the American West. • Research Western artists such as Frederic ART QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER Remington, John Clymer, Charles M. Russell, GRADES K-6 and Albert Bierstadt. • What do you see? • Describe the kinds and types of marks the PREREQUISITE SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE artist has made. Museum educators will work with teachers to ensure • What shapes and forms do you see? that all projects are age and skills appropriate. • What colors do you see? Teachers may select words from the following • What are the subjects of the paintings and vocabulary word list for students in grades 6-12 to sculptures in this exhibit? look up and understand: • How are the paintings and sculptures the • Icon same and how are they different? • Identity • Culture GRADES 7-12 • Western Art • What techniques can you name in the paintings and sculptures? MUSEUM ACTIVITIES • How would you use the same techniques to make something new in art? These activities are suggestions. Museum educators • How does Western Art use iconic imagery? will work with teachers to carefully tailor all classes • How is the use of balance and composition to their students’ needs, in support of classroom expressed in these works? goals and district and state education standards. • What materials are used to create the works in this exhibit? What are the challenges of using PART 1 TIME FRAME: 30 - 45 MINUTES these materials? (IN THE GALLERIES)

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• Students will closely observe the artworks in their artwork with their peers, teachers, and People of the West. museum educators. • Students may be given worksheets or journals • Students may write a reflective paper that so that they may respond to the exhibit by describes their favorite piece on exhibit in recording their observations and impressions People of the West. through sketching and writing. • Students will create word lists about the POST VISIT ACTIVITIES exhibit that help them describe the art work We have found that students achieve maximum or explain how they feel about it. benefit from a museum visit when time is scheduled • Students will identify the materials used to for post-visit activities. Here are some suggestions: create each work in the exhibit. • Use individual sketches to produce a three- • Students will examine the purpose and subject dimensional object. of art in this exhibit. • Use writing to reflect on the museum visit. • Students will discuss what they see with What process was used to create your work? museum educators. What was your intent as the artist? What does • Students will engage in discussions about your artwork say about you? their observations, sketches, and reflections • Research various Western artists. with one another, teachers, and museum • Pick a favorite artwork in the exhibit and educators. write a creative story about the piece. What is the setting? Time of year? Who/what are the PART 2 characters in this story? What do they have to TIME FRAME: 45 - 60 MINUTES tell us? (IN THE SHELTON STUDIO) • Research historical and contemporary The following projects may be considered cultures in the American West. individually, or combined, or museum educators will work with teachers to develop specific projects which support ongoing classroom work. SUGGESTED CURRICULUM USE • Students will explore artistic devices used to People of the West will tie into a variety of curricular create the works on exhibit, such as shape, areas including, but not limited to the following: balance, and composition. • Multiculturalism • They may create their own 2- or 3 – • History dimensional artwork using these artistic • Art devices. The work should take into account • Language Arts the expression of their own identity/cultures Museum educators will work with teachers to and students should be able to reflect on address specific Wyoming Standards and align how their works are similar to or different museum projects and activities with classroom than their peers and community. Materials lessons and assessments. to be used in the artwork will be determined through discussions between museum SOME RECOMMENDED RESOURCES educators and teachers and students. These are just a few of the many resources available. • Students should be prepared to discuss We welcome other suggestions that teachers and

Page 9 Education Packet People of the West: A Collectors Vision students find helpful which can be added to this list. ASSESSMENT & DOCUMENTATION • University of Wyoming Art Museum website, In order to ensure that our museum tour program http://www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum is meeting the needs of teachers and students, we • Exhibition materials such as the Cell Phone tour may ask that participants help us assess the activities • Western Traditions: Contemporary Artists and learning that take place. Examples of evaluation of the American West, by Michael Duty and tools include: Suzanne Deats 1. Students will self-assess using a quick survey • Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on that asks them to consider their response to Western American Art by Laura Caruso and the gallery discussions and explorations, and Peter M. Hassrick their studio experience, • Frederic Remington Art Museum, http:// 2. Teachers will assess the overall visit by www.fredericremington.org/ completing a quick-survey that asks for their • C. M. Russell Museum, http://www.cmrussell. observation and assessment of students’ org/ experiences, as well as assessment of the • Veryl Goodnight, http://www.verylgoodnight. overall process of the museum visit. com/index.html 3. Museum educators will record their • Buffalo Bill Historical Center, http://www. observations and assessments. bbhc.org/home 4. When studio time permits, we will ask students to briefly discuss their art completed MATERIALS TO BE SUPPLIED in the Shelton Studio. TO EACH STUDENT 5. Museum staff may take photographs of Materials for selected Shelton Studio projects are students and teachers to document the provided by the art museum.. learning taking place and the work produced during a museum visit. These are available to teachers upon written request for use in teaching and student portfolios.

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