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NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 140
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PERSONAL
Born April 27, 1941, in Philadelphia, PA; died of cancer, October 25, 2019, in Cody, WY; son of Royal Brown and E. Barbara Hassrick; married Elizabeth Drake, June 14, 1963; children: Philip Heyl, Charles Royal.
EDUCATION:Attended Harvard University, 1962; University of Colorado, B.A., 1963; University of Denver, M.A., 1969.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. Lone Star Ranch, Elizabeth, CO, rancher and assistant foreman, summers, 1960-63; high school teacher of history, Spanish, and art history in Steamboat Springs, CO, 1963-67; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX, curator of collections, 1969-75; Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Cody, WY, curator and director of Buffalo Bill Historical Center (later named Buffalo Bill Center of The West), 1976-96, director emeritus and senior scholar of Buffalo Bill Center of the West, 2011-19; Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM, director, 1996-97; University of Oklahoma, Norman, Charles Marion Russell Professor of Art History and director of Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West, beginning 1998. Texas Christian University, instructor in history, 1974-75; Rancher in Colorado, summers, 1963-65.
AWARDS:Leadership Award, Yellowstone National Park, 1989; Wyoming Governor’s Art award, 1989.
WRITINGS
Author of introduction for several art books, including Unending Frontier: Art of the West, Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West (Norman, OK), 2000; and After the Hunt: The Art Collection of William B. Ruger, Stackpole Books (Mechanicsburg, PA), 2003. Contributor to books, including Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey, Pasadena Museum of California Art (Pasadena, CA), 2012. Contributor to publications, including American Art Review, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, American Art Review, Antiques, American West, Montana, and other periodicals.
SIDELIGHTS
Peter H. Hassrick studied art and art history in college. His career working as a museum curator also included being a founder of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the Charles Russell Center for the Study of Western American Art, and the Petrie Institute of American Wester Art. Throughout his career, Hassrick was the author or editor of books and exhibition catalogues focusing primarily on Western American art, including the works of such noted Western artists as Frederic Remington and Albert Bierstadt.
Hassrick was the primary author of the exhibition catalog titled Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West. The German-American Bierstadt was known for his western landscapes, depiction of Plains Indians, and the American bison. Hassrick and his fellow contributors to the book, which included various scholars, curators, and art historians, examined Bierstadt’s work from a variety of viewpoints, from the moral ideas presented in Bierstadt’s paintings, especially in relation to Native Americans, to Bierstadt’s involvement in wildlife conservation issues and the creation of national parks. Calling Albert Bierstadt “a splendid full-color volume,” MBR Bookwatch contributor Micah Andrew also noted the book is “profusely and beautifully illustrated throughout with flawless reproductions of Albert Bierstadt’s artwork.”
In The Best of Proctor’s West: An In-Depth Study of Eleven of Proctor’s Bronzes, Hassrick examines some of the work of Alexander Phimister Proctor. The American sculptor gained a reputation as one of North America’s best animal and Western monumental sculptors. The Best of Proctor’s West explores some of Proctor’s most famous works, from the works titled Fawn and Striking Panther to Indian Warrior and Buckaroo. Hassrick includes an in-depth essay on each of the eleven works examined. Midwest Book Review contributor Carl Logan called the book “an inherently fascinating and impressively informative study from beginning to end.”
The Life and Art of Joseph Henry Sharp focuses on another artist noted for his work featuring the American West and Native Americans. Serving as the book’s editor and as a contributor, Hassrick presents a new look at Sharp, from the artist’s training to his decision to focus on Native Americans. The book makes special note of Sharp’s presentation of the Native American population from a perspective different than the ones presented by most other painters of the American West at the time. The book “is an impressive compendium of erudite, insightful, and informative contributions and commentaries by experts on this influential western painter and his chosen subject matter,” wrote an Internet Bookwatch contributor.
Sharp died in 2019 from cancer. Amber Peabody, writing an obituary for the Cody Enterprise website, called Hassrick “a true leader in the museum and art world.” Peabody went on to note that Karen McWhorter, curator of the Whitney Western Art Museum, said: “Peter was truly one of the most important art historians of his time and no one worked more passionately than he did to bring international attention to western American art.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
American Artist, September, 1988, Mary Carroll Nelson, review of Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, p. 12; September, 1989, Mary Carroll Nelson, review of Charles M. Russell, p. 118.
American West, May-June, 1988, review of Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, p. 60.
Art Journal, fall, 1997, Roberta K. Tarbell review of Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings, p. 84.
Booklist, August, 1989, review of Charles M. Russell, p. 1935; September 1, 1997, Donna Seaman, review of The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, p. 47; November 15, 2002, Gilbert Taylor, review of Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America’s First National Park, pp. 559-560.
Choice, December, 1989, review of Charles M. Russell, p. 621; March, 2003, P.D. Thomas, review of Drawn to Yellowstone, p. 1171.
Internet Bookwatch, August, 2019, review of The Life and Art of Joseph Henry Sharp.
Library Journal, August 20, 1987, Raymond L. Wilson, review of American Frontier Life: Early Western Painting and Prints, p. 117; June 15, 1988, Raymond L. Wilson, review of Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, p. 54; June 15, 1989, Russell T. Clement, review of Charles M. Russell, p. 56; September 15, 1997, Kathryn Wekselman, review of The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, p. 68.
MBR Bookwatch, June, 2018, Micah Andrew, review of Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West.
Parade, December 28, 1997, Herbert Kupferberg, review of The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, p. 21.
People, April 25, 1988, Harriet Shapiro, review of Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, p. 27.
Publishers Weekly, February 5, 1988, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, p. 78.
Reviewer’s Bookwatch, October, 2017, Carl Logan, review of The Best of Proctor’s West: An In-Depth Study of Eleven of Proctor’s Bronzes.
Southwestern Historical Quarterly, October, 1997, Al Lowman, review of Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings, p. 261; April, 2001, William H. Goetzmann, review of The American West: Out of Myth, into Reality, p. 609.
Western Historical Quarterly, autumn, 1998, review of Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings, p. 364.
OBITUARIES
Ballard Funeral Home, https://www.ballardfh.com/obituary/peter-hassrick (December 12, 2019. “Peter Hassrick of Cody, Wyoming.”
Cody Enterprise, http://www.codyenterprise.com/ (October 30, 2019), Amber Peabody, “Hassrick Remembered as a ‘Giant’ of Museum, Art World.”
Peter H. Hassrick
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Peter H. Hassrick
Born
27 April 1941
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died
25 October 2019 (aged 78)
Cody, Wyoming, U.S.
Education
Steamboat Mountain School
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Denver
Occupation
Museum curator, art historian
Spouse(s)
Elizabeth Drake
Children
2 sons
Peter Heyl Hassrick (April 27, 1941 – October 25, 2019) was an American museum curator, art historian, and the author or editor of many exhibition catalogues about Western American art.
Contents
1
Early life
2
Career
3
Personal life and death
4
Selected works
5
References
Early life[edit]
Hassrick was born on April 27, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] He graduated from the Steamboat Mountain School, the University of Colorado Boulder, where he earned a bachelor's degree in History, and the University of Denver, where he earned a master's degree in Art History.[1][2][3]
Career[edit]
Hassrick was the curator of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, the founding director of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Charles Russell Center for the Study of Western American Art at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, and the founder of the Petrie Institute of American Western Art at the Denver Art Museum.[3] He authored and edited many exhibitions catalogues about the art of the Western United States.
Hassrick served on the board of directors of the Cody Regional Health Foundation, the Wyoming Arts Council and the Wyoming Humanities Council.[2] He received an honorary PhD from the University of Wyoming.[1] For the Cody Enterprise, Hassrick was "a titan of Western American art."[1]
Personal life and death[edit]
Hassrick married Elizabeth Drake, also known as Buzzy, and they had two sons. He died of cancer on October 25, 2019 in Cody, Wyoming.[1]
Selected works[edit]
Hassrick, Peter H. (1973). Frederic Remington: Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture in the Amon Carter Museum and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Collections. New York: Abrams. OCLC 265252273.
Hassrick, Peter H. (1982). 100 Years of Western Art from Pittsburgh Collections. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute. ISBN 9780880390026. OCLC 8133390.
Hassrick, Peter H. (1983). The Way West: Art of Frontier America. New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 9780810980532. OCLC 9576101.
Hassrick, Peter H., ed. (1997). The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 9780810936850. OCLC 807862655.
Hassrick, Peter H. (2000). The American West: Out of Myth, Into Reality. Washington, D.C.: Trust for Museum Exhibitions in association with the Mississippi Museum of Art. ISBN 9781882507085. OCLC 44105310.
Hassrick, Peter H. (2009). A Century of Sanctuary: The Art of Zion National Park. Springdale, Utah: Zion Natural History Association. ISBN 9780915630486. OCLC 230915955.
Hassrick, Peter H. (2015). Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America's First National Park. Cody, Wyoming: Buffalo Bill Center of the West. ISBN 9780989640541. OCLC 949913884.
Hassrick, Peter H. (2017). The Best of Proctor's West: An In-depth Study of Eleven of Proctor's Bronzes. Cody, Wyoming: Buffalo Bill Center of the West. ISBN 9780931618710. OCLC 973159788.
Peter Hassrick of Cody, Wyoming
April 27, 1941 - October 25, 2019
On Oct. 25, 2019, the art world lost one of its most devoted and prolific champions. Peter Heyl Hassrick, “a titan of American western art,” died at Spirit Mountain Hospice House in Cody from cancer, cradled by his family. He was a dedicated, thoughtful and insightful advocate who was also generous to younger scholars equally enchanted by the West, so-called “Hassrick mentees.” His passion was art, while his love encompassed family and friends, mountains and the vast empty vistas of Wyoming.
Peter was born on April 27, 1941, in Philadelphia to Royal Brown and Barbara Morgan Hassrick. When the family moved west, Peter never looked back. He grew up in the Denver area, graduating from Lowell Whiteman [now Steamboat Mountain] School, skiing as often as he could and spending the summers as a ranch hand. At CU Boulder, Peter met Elizabeth “Buzzy” Drake of New York, the love of his life -- his companion, hiking partner and editor. Peter recently said to Buzzy, “The best thing I ever did was marry you, the worst thing is to leave you.” They wed on Long Island in 1963.
After graduation, Peter moved to Steamboat Springs where he taught Spanish and history at Whiteman School. Over the next five years their family grew by two, Philip in 1965 and Charles in 1966, and Peter found his true calling – art history. He earned a full-ride scholarship to the University of Denver and a master’s degree in art history, connecting his honed aesthetic eye with his passion for history, especially the history of the West.
His career began in Fort Worth at the Amon Carter Museum as curator of collections. Most significantly, in 1974, he co-curated and toured an exhibition on western American art and artifacts in the former Yugoslavia. Next Peter accepted the challenge of the directorship of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center (now Buffalo Bill Center of the West), where he spent 20 years expanding the museum in size, reach and renown in partnership with board chair Peg Coe. He set high standards for himself and expected no less from his staff.
After the BBHC, Peter continued to pursue his work with unparalleled commitment, becoming the founding directors first of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe and then of the Charles Russell Center for the Study of Western American Art at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Next he established the Petrie Institute of American Western Art at the Denver Art Museum. Along the way he served on local, state and national non-profit boards.
Amid his professional obligations, Peter found the quiet time and creative energy to write (usually in long hand on lined paper) 25 books and dozens of scholarly articles. He lectured widely, curated shows that toured museums around the country and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming for his scholarship. His writings garnered numerous awards as well.
Peter had a rich life, gathering friends and colleagues wherever he went. He spent 50 years thinking, writing and sharing his ideas about art and the West. He was profoundly committed to the precept that western American art plays a prominent role in the American art canon and dedicated his professional life to elevating the discipline onto the national stage.
He also believed deeply in matters of environmental conservation, to him a logical corollary to his love of the West and his astute and encyclopedic understanding of the artists who portrayed it. On one backcountry trip he remarked, “I’d rather be on a mountaintop on a Sunday morning than in the most elaborate cathedral that man has designed.” And most Sundays that is exactly where you could find him.
Beneath his professional façade lurked a sly sense of humor that enchanted and entertained us all. He often peppered his public talks with lines geared to generate delighted responses, to engage his audience. “So, a cowboy and an art historian walk into a bar….” He will be remembered for his sage leadership, his steel trap of a mind, his quick wit, his generous and playful smile, and his steadfast kindness.
Peter is survived by his wife Buzzy, his sons Philip (Brigid), Woodinville, Wash., and Charles (Elizabeth), Philadelphia, his grandchildren Silas, Aislinn, and Edel, his four siblings, Morgan (Tess), Judy (Bob), John (Cindy) and Annie. Plans for a celebration of life are pending. To honor Peter’s life, the family requests that those interested please donate to the Whitney Fund for Public Programs, BBCW, 720 Sheridan Ave., Cody, WY 82414.
Hassrick remembered as a ‘giant’ of museum, art world
By AMBER PEABODY amber@codyenterprise.com Oct 30, 2019 0
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A true leader in the museum and art world, Peter Hassrick died Friday at the age of 78.
“Peter was truly one of the giants of the museum world,” said Peter Seibert, Buffalo Bill Center of the West executive director. “The museum world, particularly in the Rocky Mountain states, is small and there are many interconnecting circles. He was regarded by everyone as not only a brilliant scholar but a true gentleman in every sense of the word.”
Hassrick started working as a high school history and Spanish teacher in the 1960s, but later found his true calling in art history.
“Peter was truly one of the most important art historians of his time and no one worked more passionately than he did to bring international attention to western American art,” said Karen McWhorter, curator of the Whitney Western Art Museum. “This unparalleled passion combined with a singular intellect inspired a multitude of influential exhibitions, lectures and publications.”
His career began in Fort Worth at the Amon Carter Museum as curator of collections. In 1976, Hassrick became the director of what was then the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, a position he held for 20 years.
“During his tenure, he catapulted the Center into the national and international spotlight, shored up the institution’s finances, oversaw impressive improvement of the museum’s physical plant, and fostered growth among the collections and staff,” McWhorter said. “Importantly, he oversaw the founding of the Plains Indian Museum in 1979, working hand-in-hand with an advisory board comprised of representatives from tribes around the Plains to create an award-winning facility.”
Hassrick also helped establish a research library in the Center.
“Over time he was responsible for encouraging major gifts of rare books and unique archival collections to the library,” said Mary Robinson, Housel Director of the McCracken Research Library. “Without his persistent efforts and generous contributions, the McCracken Research Library would not be what it is today, a robust and consequential resource for scholarship on the American West. Peter Hassrick was a one-of-a-kind individual. In him we have lost a beloved scholar and colleague.”
Hassrick shaped the Whitney Western Art Museum as well through his acquisition of artwork; publication of articles, essays, books and online resources inspired by the collection, and his organization of many exhibitions including, most recently, Painted Journeys: The Art of John Mix Stanley (2015) and Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West (2018).
“Peter was full of ideas and was never without an exciting project,” McWhorter said. “He was the kind of person who could easily inspire a roomful of people to join him in any endeavor. When Peter spoke, people listened. When Peter spoke, he was a tough act to follow.”
After leaving the Center, Hassrick became the founding director first of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, N.M., and then of the Charles Russell Center for the Study of Western American Art at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Next he established the Petrie Institute of American Western Art at the Denver Art Museum.
Since 2011, Hassrick served as the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s director emeritus and senior scholar.
“We were so lucky that he decided to return to Cody to ‘retire’ in 2011, although for Peter, retirement looked a bit different than it does for most. He kept an office at the Center and worked longer hours than many paid staff,” McWhorter said. “Peter was my Google … really, he was better than Google. If I had a question related to museum work or western American art or history, I’d ask Peter and be completely confident in his answer.
“He was the final word on innumerable subjects, and I was lucky enough to count him as a friend and colleague for a decade, someone who would always make time for me and my questions.”
Seibert became executive director in November 2018 and said he frequently spoke with Hassrick.
“He was a great personal resource to me and was totally committed to the best interests of the institution,” he said. “Together, we found common ground on the story of Joseph Henry Sharp, the New Mexico and Montana artist, who was Peter’s passion this last year. I was honored in my first few months here that he asked me to write a forward to the book that he wrote on that subject.”
Hassrick is widely acclaimed for his books and catalog raisonnes on Albert Bierstadt, Charlie Russell and Frederic Remington, George Carlin and Buffalo Bill, among others.
“He quite literally “wrote the book” – in his case, books (more than 25 and contributed to more than 50) – on many western American artists including Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, A.P. Proctor, Ernest L. Blumenschein, John Mix Stanley, and others,” McWhorter said.
He also made time for younger scholars equally enchanted by the West, so-called “Hassrick mentees.”
“When others might have justifiably rested on their laurels, Peter worked tirelessly to raise up the next generation of western American art enthusiasts,” McWhorter said. “He was a busy man but always offered generously of his time and counsel and supplied good advice and important connections to many at critical junctures in their careers. I count myself among this group of ‘Hassrick mentees,’ and couldn’t be more appreciative of the decade I spent learning alongside Peter.”
Hassrick leaves behind his wife Buzzy, and two sons and their families. Plans for a celebration of life are pending.
By Renée Claire Tafoya on October 26, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )
We are sad to note the passing of one of our authors.
Peter Hassrick, eminent authority on Western Art, died October 25th in Cody, Wyoming. A lover of Yellowstone and wildlife, he is best known for being the curator and director of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.
He also was director of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and curator at the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth. He started as a high school history teacher and later became a university professor. He is perhaps most widely acclaimed for his lectures and books—authoritative and yet easy-to-read books and catalog raisonnes on Albert Bierstadt, Charlie Russell, Frederic Remington, George Carlin, and Buffalo Bill, among others.
WordsWorth produced two books with Peter and his excellent assistant, Sylvia Huber: “Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America’s First National Park” and “The Best of Proctor’s West: An in-depth study of eleven of Proctor’s bronzes”
Our sympathy goes out to his wife Buzzy and their family and friends.
The Life and Art of Joseph Henry Sharp
Peter H. Hassrick, editor
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
c/o University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
www.oupress.com
9780931618727, $25.00, PB, 164pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is a fount of major collections of art from some of the most renowned painters and sculptors of the American West. Holdings of artworks by titans such as Frederic Remington and Charles Russell number in the hundreds. The painter Joseph Henry Sharp (September 27, 1859--August 29, 1953), while claiming less space on the walls of the Center's Whitney Western Art Museum, is represented by a substantial number of works that reveal his joy and devotion to the West and to its indigenous people. The Center also owns a set of Sharp's papers, an extensive archive gifted by the artist's primary chronicler, Forrest Fenn of Santa Fe. Fenn also donated Sharp's Montana cabin, the "Absarokee Hut," to the Center, thus collectively making the museum a focal point for Sharp studies.
Compiled and edited by Peter H. Hassrick, "The Life and Art of Joseph Henry Sharp" marks a fresh inspection of who Sharp was, how and where he was trained as a painter, why he selected the nation's western Native population as a primary subject, what impact his imagery had on audiences across the continent, and how his production as a painter of what he referred to as the "real Americans" differed from that of his contemporary peers.
Beyond the pages of "The Life and Art of Joseph Henry Sharp", and in conjunction with its findings and insights about Sharp, the Center has produced an online catalogue of some 700 examples of the artist's paintings held in public collections. The repositories of these works span the country from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles with an obvious wellspring held by institutions in the West and Midwest. Readers who avail themselves of this volume's additional, electronic chapter will be rewarded with a vast and compelling compendium of Sharp's treasured paintings from over fifty museums, foundations, and libraries around the country.
Critique: Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout, "The Life and Art of Joseph Henry Sharp" is an impressive compendium of erudite, insightful, and informative contributions and commentaries by experts on this influential western painter and his chosen subject matter. Expertly organized and presented, "The Life and Art of Joseph Henry Sharp" is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library American Art History collections in general, and Joseph Henry Sharp supplemental studies lists in particular.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Life and Art of Joseph Henry Sharp." Internet Bookwatch, Aug. 2019. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A600788910/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=58857781. Accessed 5 Dec. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A600788910
The Best of Proctor's West
Peter H. Hassrick
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
9780931618710, $25.00, PB, 112pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is home to the most extensive collection of material related to sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor (1860-1950). The museum's unrivaled holdings include the artist's papers, personal effects, studio paraphernalia, and original works of art. Vast archival collections are made available for research through the Center's McCracken Research Library, and a wide selection of Proctor's bronze, marble, and plaster sculptures and paintings, drawings, and prints are presented within the Whitney Western Art Museum.
These rich resources informed and inspired "The Best of Proctor's West" as Peter H. Hassrick (Director Emeritus and Senior Scholar at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West), presents an in-depth study of eleven of the artist's most celebrated bronzes.
Combining a scholarly publication with a searchable online database, "The Best of Proctor's West" includes Fawn (first and second models), Stalking Panther (multiple variations), Arab Stallion, Indian Warrior (large and small versions), Moose, Elk, Q Street Buffalo, Buckaroo (multiple variations), Pursued (1914 and 1928 versions), Buffalo Hunt, and On the War Path.
A new, richly illustrated catalogue, "The Best of Proctor's West: An In-Depth Study of Eleven of Proctor's Bronzes", contains extended interpretive essays by Peter H. Hassrick on each of the selected bronzes. Allison Rosenthal discusses recent scientific examinations of Proctor's bronzes using X-ray florescence (XRF) spectrometry. Karen B. McWhorter adds an introduction about the Center's Proctor Studio Collection and offers a brief biography of the artist. The online database complements and expands upon the publication.
Critique: An inherently fascinating and impressively informative study from beginning to end, "The Best of Proctor's West: An In-Depth Study of Eleven of Proctor's Bronzes" is an extraordinary work of outstanding scholarship and would well serve as a template for similar studies of other sculptors. Of special note is the chapter on 'Finding Proctor's Foundries'. Simply stated, "The Best of Proctor's West" is unreservedly recommended, especially for college and university library American Art History collections.
Carl Logan
Reviewer
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Logan, Carl. "The Best of Proctor's West Peter H. Hassrick." Reviewer's Bookwatch, Oct. 2017. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A514884393/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0da367d4. Accessed 5 Dec. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A514884393
Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West
Peter H. Hassrick
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
www.oupress.com
9780806160047, $60.00, HC, 248pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: As one of America's most prominent nineteenth-century painters, Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) is justly renowned for his majestic paintings of the western landscape. Yet Bierstadt was also a painter of history, and his figural works, replete with images of Plains Indians and the American bison, are an important part of his legacy as well.
"Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West" by Peter H. Hassrick (Director Emeritus and Senior Scholar at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming) is splendid full-color volume highlights his achievements in chronicling a rapidly changing American West.
Born in Germany, Bierstadt rose to prominence as an American artist in the late 1850s and enjoyed nearly two decades of critical success. His paintings propelled him to the forefront of the American art scene, but they also met with reproach from his peers and critics in the press who viewed his painting style as outmoded. Bierstadt's star has both risen and fallen as modern art historians have reconsidered his complex oeuvre.
"Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West" takes a major step in reappraising Bierstadt's contributions by reexamining the artist through a new lens. It shows how Bierstadt conveyed moral messages through his paintings, often to preserve the dignity of Native peoples and call attention to the tragic slaughter of the American bison. More broadly, the book reconsiders the artist's engagement with contemporary political and social debates surrounding wildlife conservation in America, the creation and perpetuation of national parks, and the prospects for the West's indigenous peoples. Bierstadt's final history paintings, including his dual masterworks titled The Last of the Buffalo (a special focus of this volume) stand out as elegiac odes to an earlier era, giving voice to concerns about the intertwined fates of Native peoples and endangered wildlife, especially bison.
Along with its rich sampling of Bierstadt's diverse artwork, "Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West" features informative essays by noted curators, scholars of art history, and historians of the American West.
Critique: Profusely and beautifully illustrated throughout with flawless reproductions of Albert Bierstadt's artwork, "Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West" is the latest addition to the simply outstanding 'The Charles M. Russell Center Series on Art and Photography of the American West Series' from the University of Oklahoma Press. An impressively informative study from beginning to end, "Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition for personal, community, and academic library American Art History collections in general, and Albert Bierstadt supplemental studies reading lists in particular. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West" is also available in a paperback edition (9780806160054, $35.00).
Micah Andrew
Reviewer
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Andrew, Micah. "Albert Bierstadt: Witness to a Changing West." MBR Bookwatch, June 2018. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A546959046/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=52a2af0c. Accessed 5 Dec. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A546959046