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

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 paintings 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 cowboy, 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 Page 2 Education Packet People of the West: A Collectors Vision 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 Expressionism 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 painting 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.

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