: Kodner Gallery Explores the Art of Western
Expansion
Kodner Gallery, 7501 Forsyth Boulevard, will exhibit "Beyond the
Endless River - Art of the American Frontier," February 5-May 15.
The show will feature 100 paintings, watercolors, drawings,
prints and sculptures by artists who committed years of
traveling, exploring and illustrating the Western expansion.
Artists featured in the exhibit will include: Karl Bodmer
(1809-1893); Charles M. Russell (1864-1926); Oscar E. Beminghaus
(1874-1952); Frederic Sackrider Remington (1861-1909); Thomas
Moran (1837-1926); Carl Wimar (1828-1862); Cassily Adams
(1843-1921); George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879); and Alfred Jacob
Miller (1810-1874).
The "Endless River" referred to in the show's title was how James
Fenimore Cooper referred to the Mississippi River in several of
his writings.
During the first half of the Nineteenth Century, many artists
visited the American frontier to accompany survey parties. Karl
Bodmer was a draughtsman for Prince Maximilian Zu Wied, who was a
naturalist. From 1833 to 1834 Bodmer traveled with the prince
along the Missouri River, creating exquisitely detailed
renderings of the inhabitants and landscapes that the party
encountered, as seen in the exhibit's original hand-colored
aquatint engravings entitled "Pehriska-Ruhpa" and "Mato-Tope."
Perhaps the greatest of the explorer-artists was Thomas Moran who
accompanied Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden's "U.S. Geological Survey
of the Geological Territories" from 1869 to 1872. Other artists
assisting Hayden included photographer William H. Jackson,
represented with "Ambush," an original hand-colored photograph.
Unlike photographers and survey artists, Moran brought a new
element to the subject. Although he was never an "official"
survey painter, it was his experiences with Hayden that propelled
him to national recognition.
Moran's concern, expressed in his oil paintings was "to preserve
and convey the scene's true impression." Capturing the locale's
ambience was his aim, unlike the academic intentions represented
by artists such as Karl Bodmer and George Catlin (also
represented in this exhibition). In "Pictured Rocks, Lake
Superior" Thomas Moran captures the chilling snow-covered
landscape that surrounds the north cave of the tranquil lake.
George Caleb Bingham's portrait of Colonel Caleb Smith Stone is
included; the colonel is thought to be the first curator of
collections for the University of Missouri at Columbia.
For information, 314-863-9366.
