By 
From priceless originals displayed in the Oval Office to cheap, miniature knock-offs for sale at discount, wholesale grocery stores, Frederic Remington‘s western-themed sculptures are pervasive to the point of ridiculous. Remington’s sculptures, however, are not the focus of the Booth Museum’s as new “Treasures of the Frederic Remington Art Museum and Beyond” exhibit.
This showcase focuses on his paintings which were overshadowed by his genre-defining sculpture. Drawing was a talent which did not come naturally to him.
“In the beginning he was not a great draftsman, in fact a few of his earliest illustrations that were submitted had to be redrawn before they ran in various magazines,” Seth Hopkins, executive director of the Booth Museum, said. “One of the earliest paintings in the exhibition has issues with composition and anatomy, but he quickly improved and became America’s most famous name in art during the latter part of his life.
“By what unfortunately became the end of his career, building on his success in sculpture, he was turning towards Impressionism and nocturnal subjects in his paintings, hoping to become accepted within the ranks of America’s truly great artists. As his first biographer Harold McCracken said, just as he was reaching the one goal he had been working towards his entire adult life – becoming known as more than ‘just an illustrator’ – he met the end of the trail. Had he lived another 10 or 20 years and continued on the trajectory he was on, his work would’ve looked very similar to both the American and French Impressionists.”
The Remington material brought together by the Booth has never been displayed as a collective previously. It represents the largest and most comprehensive exhibit of his work ever in the South. The museum takes special pride in the variety of media shown which includes drawings, printmaking, watercolors, black and white oil paintings, color oil paintings and pastel. Also featured is a section focusing on him as a writer. Remington wrote many magazine articles and books which he also illustrated.
The Booth Museum’s Remington exhibit will be on display until January, 13 2019.
Cartersville, GA, where the Booth is located, can be found 45 miles northwest of Atlanta on I-75. Along with the Booth and a charming downtown district, Cartersville offers a surprising collection of Native American historic sites you should be sure to include when visiting.
The Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site preserves and interprets a major Mississippian cultural center which was home to thousands of Native Americans between 1000 and 1500 AD. If Native history interests you, make the short drive north on I-75 from Cartersville to Calhoun and New Echota.
New Echota served as the capitol of the Cherokee Nation prior to the tribe’s forced expulsion from the region along the “Trail of Tears,” which began there. New Echota also holds the distinction of being home to the first newspaper published by Native people in the United States, the Cherokee Phoenix. The Cherokee Phoenix was first published in 1828 in English and Cherokee, following Sequoyah’s development of a Cherokee syllabary – or alphabet – in the 1810’s and early 1820’s. This made the Cherokee the first Native Americans to develop their own written language.
For its historical significance and impact, New Echota should be a National Park welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors a year stopping off along the way during vacation trips from the Midwest to Florida. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. New Echota is a largely overlooked state park where you’re likely to have the place to yourself when visiting.
What do you think?