Synopses & Reviews
Unprecedented in size and scope, this special issue of Western Passages celebrates the full range of the western American art holdings at the Denver Art Museum. Published to mark the tenth anniversary of the museumandrsquo;s Petrie Institute of Western American Art,
Elevating Western American Art: Developing an Institute in the Cultural Capital of the Rockies includes thirty essays by art historians from across the United States and Canada as well as a comprehensive history of the growth of Denverandrsquo;s impressive collection of art of the American West.
More than twenty of the museumandrsquo;s undisputed masterworks are discussed in detail, from George Catlinandrsquo;s Cutting Ceremony and Charles Deasandrsquo;s Long Jakes to Frederic Remingtonandrsquo;s The Cheyenne and Charles Russellandrsquo;s In the Enemyandrsquo;s Country. Unique among its peers in being a dedicated western American art department within an encyclopedic museum, the Petrie Institute is able to draw on the resources of other museum departments to provide a broad context for its holdings. Essays by Denver Art Museum curators on objects that relate to western American art but are displayed and cared for in other museum departmentsandmdash;a portion of a New Mexican altarpiece, a magnificent Native American coat, a Japanese woodblock print depicting Yosemiteandmdash;demonstrate both the inclusive nature of the Petrie Instituteandrsquo;s approach and the fact that western American art stubbornly and gloriously refuses to be fenced in by traditional art historical boundaries. Special attention is paid, as well, to contemporary artists of western American art, whose work is generously represented in the bookandrsquo;s more than 250 color illustrations.
This highly collectible bookandmdash;an essential addition to any art libraryandmdash;is a testament to the artists whose work it so handsomely portrays and to the many benefactors, staff, and supporters, over a period of more than a hundred years, who have made it possible for western American art to find a home at the Denver Art Museum.
Synopsis
Unprecedented in size and scope, this special issue of Western Passages celebrates the full range of the western American art holdings at the Denver Art Museum. Published to mark the tenth anniversary of the museumandrsquo;s Petrie Institute of Western American Art,
Elevating Western American Art: Developing an Institute in the Cultural Capital of the Rockies includes thirty essays by art historians from across the United States and Canada as well as a comprehensive history of the growth of Denverandrsquo;s impressive collection of art of the American West. This highly collectible bookandmdash;an essential addition to any art libraryandmdash;is a testament to the artists whose work it so handsomely portrays and to the many benefactors, staff, and supporters, over a period of more than a hundred years, who have made it possible for western American art to find a home at the Denver Art Museum.
About the Author
Thomas Brent Smith is director of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum. He previously served as curator of art of the American West at the Tucson Museum of Art, where he curated the exhibition A Place of Refuge: Maynard Dixonandrsquo;s Arizona and authored the eponymous publication.and#160;Smith was a Robert S. and Grace B. Kerr Foundation graduate fellow at the University of Oklahomaandrsquo;s Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West.