The Stark Museum of Art will open two special exhibitions featuring cowboy subjects on Saturday, June 16, 2018. The exhibitions Portraits from Cowboys of Color: Photographs by Don Russell and Cowboy Legends and Life will present differing, although complimentary, aspects of the cowboy tradition in art. Both exhibitions will be on view through September 29, 2018.
Portraits from Cowboys of Color: Photographs by Don Russell highlights the modern African American rodeo cowboy. It features portraits of contemporary cowboys and cowgirls who ride and rope in Cowboys of Color rodeos. The works reveal a tradition of black cowboy culture often overlooked in western history and art. Photographer Don Russell made the works over a two-year period and also published a book on the subject. The portraits are recent gifts to the Stark Museum of Art.
Cowboy: Legends and Life presents the theme of the Cowboy as an icon for America. This exhibition explores the imagery of the cowboy and cowgirl in American Western art. It will present both the idealization and the working life of men and women of the West. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, rare books and photographs from the collections of the Stark Museum of Art give a survey from the late nineteenth century through the art of today. Artists include Frederic Remington, Charles Marion Russell, William Herbert Dunton, Frank Tenney Johnson and others. The exhibition will include new acquisitions for the collections including photographs by Richard S. Buswell and Bonnie Schiffman.
Curator Sarah E. Boehme said, “The Museum is very excited about presenting these two exhibitions together because they give us all the opportunity to celebrate the cowboy tradition while seeing new aspects.”
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