| by Jessy Diamba |George Caleb Bingham (1811–1879) moved to Missouri as a child and began painting the scenes of Missouri life for which he is now famous. Navigating the West explores how Bingham's iconic river paintings reveal the cultural and economic significance of the massive Mississippi and Missouri waterways to society of the mid-19th century.
The exhibition will be featuring 16 iconic river paintings and 50 drawings, revealing for the first time how Bingham created his art and artistic persona at a time when American painting, like the country, was dramatically shifting. Then and now, our nation's waterways-how they are used, controlled and the lives of the people closest to them-remain a current and important issue.
A monitor on display in the exhibition highlights the artist's creative process, and guests will enjoy an interactive area that lets them channel their inner Bingham by tracing his figures onto canvas. All ages are invited to participate.
Andrew J.Walker, director of the Amon Carter Museum, and Margaret C. Conrads, deputy director of art and research, worked with a number of leading curators and art history professionals to pen a follow-along book about the exhibition, released by Yale University Press in late October.
Focusing on the artist's working methods and preparatory drawings, the book also explores Bingham's representations of people and places and situates these images in a dialogue with other contemporary depictions of the region. Of particular note are two landmark essays investigating Bingham's creative process through comparisons of infrared images of 17 of his paintings with both his preparatory drawings and the completed works, casting new light on his previously understudied process. Technical analysis of the artist's lauded masterpiece, Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, reveals Bingham's considerable revisions to the painting. In the concluding essay, the 20th-century revival of the artist's work is discussed within the context of American Regionalism and in light of a shifting sequence of narratives about the nation's past and future. The book will be distributed for the Amon Carter Museum of Art, as well as the Saint Louis Art Museum.
The exhibition has been organized by both the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum. It is supported in part by generous grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Fort Worth presentation is supported by the Mr. And Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts and the Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.
Navigating the West: George Caleb Bingham and the River
Through Jan. 18, 2015
Free admission
cartermuseum.org
