Perhaps more than any artist, Frederic Remington can lay claim to have painted and sculpted the old American west. Today we might see this as a bit of romantic fiction, but there’s a certain affinity with his subjects, whether they be Native American, settlers or of course, horses. Somewhat surprisingly, Remington spent much of his life in upstate New York…just across the border in Ogdensburg. I wrote about visiting the Remington Museum in a past post: “A day trip to Remington’s West”.
On a recent visit, I was struck by some paintings that are perhaps closer to home: studies of the local wilds, canoe expeditions, and cottages – we do all live in the same neck of the woods, after all. This set me thinking about connections with Canadian painting and painters, so I was fascinated to discover that Frederic was an active member of the Pontiac Club: A group of outdoorsy types centered around our Pontiac region in West Quebec. Probably not a lone painter, it’s interesting to speculate as to which of our Canadian painters he knew. In the meantime, here are a few of his “eastern compositions”:
[Not a valid template]