Coming Through the Rye 1902 - 1938

Frederic Remington’s bronze sculpture is a wild, almost slapstick depiction of cowboys on horseback, yee-hawing as they shoot their guns in the air. You can practically smell the gun smoke and horse sweat, can’t you? I wonder what Remington was thinking as he modeled this scene, probably pinching and prodding at the clay, working the forms of the bodies, hooves, and hats. The bronze has such a rough, energetic surface, not smoothed or refined at all. It captures a sense of these guys as they gallop into town after months on the dusty trail. The sculpture suggests the ways in which the myth of the West was actively constructed in Remington’s time. It makes me think about how art, especially public art, both reflects and shapes our ideas and culture. Remington probably never imagined his work would still be talked about in this way, but that’s the magic of art, isn’t it? Each generation finds something new in the conversation.