FREDERICK REMINGTON (1861-1909) PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, AND SCULPTURE IN THECOLLECTION OF THE R.W. NORTON ART GALLERY, SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANAReview by: Raymond L. WilsonARLIS/NA Newsletter, Vol. 8, No. 2 (FEBRUARY 1980), pp. 60-61Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27946268 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 02:19

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The University of Chicago Press and Art Libraries Society of North America are collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to ARLIS/NA Newsletter.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.78.109.54 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 02:19:11 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

60 A RUSI NA Newsletter. February 1980

and restricts keyphrases to 10 terms or 65 characters?the volume

provides a treasure-trove of information about the Bodleian Li

brary's western manuscript holdings that would not otherwise be available.

Julian G. Plante Hill Monastic Manuscript Library

ART INC. AMERICAN PAINTINGS FROM CORPORATE COLLECTIONS. Birmingham, Alabama, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, 1979. 298 p. illus. index of artists and corporations, bibliog. LC 78-65838. ISBN 0-89616-008-4. $15 (paper).

In spite of the self-serving declaration by the sponsor of this project, the Honorable Winton M. Blount, former Postmaster General of the United States, that the art and corporate worlds share a community of interest because "Both are concerned with

brightening and strengthening the quality of life," American Paintings From Corporate Collections is an important exhibition and survey of the subject, as now and for many years corporations and individual entrepreneurs have been important sources of

patronage for the products of American art, including not only painting, as represented in this catalog, but of architecture and

sculpture as well.

Seemingly, many of the best of twentieth-century American

painters have either been retained to produce works or submitted works for corporate-sponsored competitions, thematic programs, or that most dreadful of compromises?advertising promotions. Charles Sheeler, for instance, was commissioned to do a series of

paintings on power by Fortune magazine; Georgia O'Keeffe once worked for Dole Pineapple; and Ben Shahn created material for the Container Corporation of America.

In a certain sense, of course, all artists are businessmen engaged in free enterprise, but to draw analogies as Mr. Blount persists in

doing, between the modern corporation and the Church or certain Florentine banking families, seems a trifle far-fetched. After all, for the Medieval Church, pictures were the Biblia pauper urn, an inten tion presumably inimicable to corporate collectors; and quattro cento merchants took a far more immediate and direct interest than their modern counterparts in the preparation of works they

were to buy from well-known artists, even to meddling in the kinds of paints and materials to be used.

Quibbling aside, though, this is a fine and well-conceived production. Of 300 corporations holding collections of American paintings, thirty were solicited, with three paintings from each of the latter group represented in the exhibition. The aim of the ex hibition, according to the museum director, "... is to point out the

interesting range of work that has been collected and the adven turous collecting patterns of certain corporations. We selected some companies because of their pioneering role, others because of the current vigor of their collecting." Indeed, there are works by Thomas Cole and by Winslow Homer, by Josef Albers and by Roy Lichtenstein. AU reproductions are in color with excellent

separation and crisp rendering of line and tone. Of corollary and compelling interest, however, are the ques

tions of who collects and why. In his introduction, Mitchell Kahan divides his subject into two parts, with the first devoted to the history of corporate collecting, and the second to contemporary collecting and support of the arts. One of the first corporate patrons and collectors was the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe

Railroad, which began offering artists free rides to the Southwest in 1900 in exchange for paintings of local scenery which were subsequently used in advertising flyers and on dining car menus. In

1939, IBM began organizing the first corporate collection as such, mostly of American painters, as most of the Old European Masters were already safely tucked away in the collections of the Fricks, the M?lions, and the Morgans. Still, it was only with the end of the Second World War that corporate collecting got underway on a big scale.

As to why corporations and businessmen should acquire paintings, several reasons are advanced. There is the advertising

value?directly and indirectly?of owning works by famous

artists. There is the obvious aspect of making a simple financial investment like any other kind. There is the idea of enriching the civilization in which one does business, an idea admittedly not wholly different from the Florentines' belief that art was a direct

expression of the glory of their city. Finally, there is the claim that "A creative environment stimulates creative thinking." Apart from the history of corporate collecting and contemporary trends, Mr. Kahan's introduction contains a number of interesting facts: most

corporate collectors doing business within the United States collect

primarily American paintings; the current trend is towards ac

quiring abstract rather than representational paintings, and those in the $1,000 to $5,000 price range. This book will be a valuable stimulus to historians, and an important addition to the bibliogra phy on American painting. Such an exhibition excites wonder and

curiosity, and one can only hope for further such excursions into the boardrooms, offices, and workshops of American corporate collectors.

Raymond L. Wilson Ohio University

FREDERICK REMINGTON (1861-1909) PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, AND SCULPTURE IN THE COLLECTION OF THE R.W. NORTON ART GALLERY, SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA. Shreveport, Louisiana, R.W. Norton Art Gallery, 1979. 108 p. illus. title index, bibliog. LC 78-7114. ISBN 0-913060 14-3. $8.

Never more popular in his own lifetime than now, the shelf of books on Remington and his art continues to grow. Besides the

present work, there are several recent Remington collection and exhibition catalogs. Three of the largest and most important Remington collections are at the Remington Art Memorial at

Ogdensburg, New York, near Remington's birthplace of Canton, and at the Amon Carter Museum and in the Sid W. Richardson collection in Texas. The latter two are represented in Peter Hass rick's lavish collection catalog, Frederick Remington, published by Abrams in 1973. Other recent catalogs include that commemorat

ing the show at the Whitney Museum of Western Art in 1974, called The Art of Frederick Remington, and Frederick Reming ton: Selections From The Hogg Brothers Collection, published by the Museum of Fine Arts at Houston in 1973. Adding to this group is the new catalog of the Remington collection of the R.W. Norton

Art Gallery at Shreveport, Louisiana.

By comparison with those at the Remington Art Memorial or the Carter Museum, the Norton collection is small. Many of

Remington's more famous paintings as A Dash For Timber, The

Cowboy, Evening on A Canadian Lake, and Charge of The Rough Riders At San Juan /////are held by larger and more generously en dowed institutions. Nonetheless, the Norton collection includes some of Remington's more significant works, both in terms of his career and his development as a painter. Arrival of A Courier, for instance, is considered by Peter Hassrick to have gained for

Remington his first official sanction as an artist from the National Academy of Design. Also included are Remington's first oil

painting, titled Watering The Remuda, done in 1885, and Calling The Moose, a tranquil and evocative work done in 1901 and close

ly related in theme and composition to Evening on A Canadian Lake. The collection also includes a number of drawings made for

magazine illustrations and a few leaves from some of the artist's

early sketchbooks. The sculpture portion of the collection

comprises castings of many of Remington's famous bronzes

including The Bronco Buster and Coming Through The Rye. Prefacing the collection is a fine introduction by Professor Brian

W. Dippie which originally appeared in the April, 1975, issue of American Heritage magazine. In reconstructing Remington's life,

Dippie notes his continuing preoccupation with the military, specifically the United States Cavalry, horses, and the outdoors. He emphasizes that Remington's career was based in large part on

providing illustrations for popular magazines, and that he possessed the illustrator's gift for rapid characterization and for the

representative figure rather than the individual study. He also ob serves that Remington weighed nearly 300 pounds when he died at the age of 47.

A word or two about R.W. Norton would have been welcome, as would a comment or two about his reasons for collecting Rem

ingtoniana. Such information always encourages sympathy and

ultimately promotes greater understanding concerning the works

represented in the collection. The price of this catalog is right, it is

This content downloaded from 195.78.109.54 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 02:19:11 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A RUS/NA Newsletter, February 1980 61

another resource for historians, and it is a necessary ingredient in

any future catalogue raisonne of Remington's works.

Raymond L. Wilson Ohio University

Harper, J. Russell.

KRIEGHOFF, Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto

Press, 1979. xvi, 204p. illus. (some col.), index, bibliog. thematic list of works, ISBN 0-8020-2348-7. LC 79-094272-0. c$29.95.

The team of J. Russell Harper and the University of Toronto Press have published yet another classic work in the field of Canadian Art. As his latest subject. Harper has chosen Cornelius

Krieghoff, whose name is a household word and yet whose popular

reputation is such that his achievements as an artist have been

largely overlooked. In a readable and refreshingly straightforward account, the author documents Krieghoffs life, evaluates his

artistic career, and goes on to debunk the many popular myths

(long since elevated to truth) clinging to the artist's name. Cornelius David Krieghoff (1815-1872), whose roots in the

European genre tradition are here illustrated with a few well-chos en examples, was an extraordinarily profific artist. With humor and a fresh eye, he recorded Canadian society of his day, the In

dians, the everyday life of the French-Canadian habitant, ?nd the

diversions of city and country folk. Successful in his own lifetime, he remains so today: his paintings fetch consistntly high prices on the auction block, and are a favorite choice for calendars and other

objects needing the "Canadiana" touch. A great deal of print has

been devoted to Krieghoff over the years, beginning with CM. Barbeau, Cornelius Krieghoff; Pioneer Painter of North America

(Toronto, Macmillan, 1934), and most recently H. de Jouvan

court, Cornelius Krieghoff (Montreal, Editions La Fregate, 1971) and R. Vezina, Cornelius Krieghoff, peintre de moeurs (Quebec, Editions du Pelican, 1972). Yet all of this has merely served to underline the need for a satisfactory scholarly biography incor

porating the most recent data, and for a catalogue raisonne.

Using new sources of information in Canada, the U.S., and

Europe, Harper has extracted from a maze of contradictory stories and traditions the artist's early life as an itinerant musician and soldier in the eastern U.S. and as an art student in Europe, and then his successful career as an artist. His birth-place (Amsterdam) and antecedents (German and Flemish) are once and for all docu mented. His lesser-known artistic activities (watercolors, paintings on china, and a single example of a canvas used as a decorative insert for a table-top) are also described. All of this leads to the final, most fascinating chapter, "Misattributions, deceptions, and

forgeries." Krieghoffs popularity was such that forgeries appeared even in his own lifetime, while later forgers and imitators have been as active as those of Corot: forgeries and deceptions have appeared on the market as recently as 1975 and in places as far afield as California and Great Britain. Harper has thoughtfully provided a description of the artist's practices as a painter for collectors who wish to avoid fakes.

Krieghoff fills an obvious need so thoroughly and so well that it seems cavalier to criticize. However, the absence of the expected and long hoped-for catalogue raisonne cannot be overlooked. We have instead a list of works arranged by theme, this for an artist who repeated subject matter to the extent that he could, in the author's words, extemporize. Nor is there an index to titles, which would have partially filled the gap. An index to owners has also been omitted, although many works from at least one well-known

private collection are featured as illustrations. The design and lay out of the volume maintain the high standards of the University of Toronto Press. The reproductions are generally of high quality, although they could have been increased in size to fill the page a little more: Krieghoffs tiny details, especially in the small black and-white illustrations, are somewhat lost.

Harper's book is thorough, scholarly, and interesting, and is

highly recommended for any library with acquisitions in Canadiana and Americana, or in Canadian art. In spite of its

drawbacks, it will be the authoritative biography, and no doubt as sought-after a collector's item as the works of the artist himself.

Karen McKenzie Art Gallery of Ontario

SELECTED BOOKS RECEIVED (Subject to later review) Generalia

Authentication in the Visual Arts: A Multi-disciplinary Symposium, Amsterdam, 12th March 1977/Editors H.L.C. Jaffe; J. Storm van Leeuwen; L.H. van der Tweel. -Amsterda,

-Amsterdam: Israel; Montclair: Abner Schr?m, 1980 - 146 p., ISBN 0-8390-0245-9, $35.

Bicycles & Tricycles: An Elementary Treatise on Their Design and Construction: by Archibald Sharp.

- Cambridge: MIT, 1979. - 536 p., ISBN 0-262-69066-7, $8.95.

Paperback reissue of 1977 reprint of 1896 original. China Mending/Echo Evetts. - London; Boston: Faber, 1978. - 155 p., ISBN 0-571

10822-9, $13.95. Fads and Fancies / Denys Sutton. - New York: Wittenborn, 1979. - 240 p., ISBN 0

8150-0903-8, LC 79-64887, $25.00

"Reprint of 18 editorials from Apollo, 1969-1974. French Fashion Plates in Full Color from the Gazette du Bon Ton (?912-1925): 58 il

lustrations of styles by Paul Potrei, Worth, Paquin and others. - New York: Dover, 1979. - 60 p., ISBN 0-486-23805-9, LC 79-50347, $6.

The Great Houses of Parisi Claude Fregnac and Wayne Andrews. - New York; Paris; Lausanne: Vend?me Press; Viking [distributor], 1979. - 280 p., ISBN 0-670 34972-0, LC 79-5094, $50.

Translation of 1977 French edition; excellent b&w and outstanding color. A history of Textile Arti Agnes Geijer.

- London; Totowa: Sotheby Parke-Bernet Publications, 1979. 317 p., ISBN 0-85667-055-3?, $30.

Translation of the 1972 Swedish edition. Kwakiutl Art? Audrey Hawthorn. - Vancouver: Douglas Mclntyre, 1979. - 320 p.,

ISBN 0-88894-239-7, c$35. Expanded edition of Art of the Kwakiutl Indians and Other Northwest Tribes, 1967.

Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts: Cases and Materials/ by John Henry Merryman; Al bert E. Elsen. - New York: Matthew Bender, 1979. - 2 vol., LC 79-65005, $29.50.

Legal textbook. Marxism and Art: Essays Classic and Contemporaryf edited with historical and

critical commentary by Maynard Solomon. - Detroit: Wayne State, 1979. - 649 p., ISBN 0-8143-1621-2, $7.95.

Reprint of the 1974 hardback. Politics of Art Educai ion/edited by Dave Rushton and Paul Wood. - London: The

Studio Trust, 1979. - 64 p., ?1.25.

Popular Hinduism and Hindu Mythology: An Annotated Bibliography/compiled by Barron Holland. -

Westport; London: Greenwood Press, 1979. - 394 p., ISBN 0 313-21358-5, LC 79-7188, $29.95.

Wooden Houses! introduction by Christian Norberg-Schulz; text and drawings by Makota Suzuki; photographs by Yukio Futagawa.

- New York: Abrams, 1979. 288 p., ISBN 0-8109-1762-9, LC 79-10112, $45.

Originally published in Japanese, 1977, but the photographs are the main con tent.

Studio Acrylic Painting: Landscapes in Oil: Landscapes in Watercolor; Oil Painting: Sea

scapes in Acrylic: Watercolor Painting!by Wendon Blake. - New York: Watson

Guptill, 1979. - (The Artist's Painting Library). - $5.95 each.

Reprints of parts of other works by this author.

Oriental Chinese and Exotic Rugsj Murray L. Eiland. - Boston: New York Graphic Society,

1979. - 246 p., ISBN 0-8212-0745-8, LC 79-11744, $35. Paradise as a Garden in Persia and Mughal India/ Elizabeth B. Moynihan.

- New York: Braziller, 1979. - (World Landscape Art and Architecture Series).

- 168 p., ISBN 0-8076-0933-pbk, $19.95 cloth, $9.95 paper.

Classical Greek Art of the Aegean Islands: An exhibition sponsored by the Government of the

Republic of Greece...at the Metropolitan Museum of Art November 1, 1979

February 10, 1980. - New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Braziller, 1979. -

238 p., ISBN 0-8076-0947-1, LC 70-3070, $25 (hardback). Studies in Classical Art and Archaeology: A Tribute to Peter Heinrich von Blancken

hagenc?ited by Gunter Kopeke and Mary B. Moore. - Locust Valley: Augustin, 1979. - 337 p., ISBN 0071-3287, LC 79-50203, $35.

Medieval Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century,

catalogue of the exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 19, 1977, through February 12, 1978/edited by Kurt Weitzmann. - New York:

Metropolitan Museum of Art; Princeton: Princeton University Press [distributor], 1979. - 736 p., ISBN 0-87099-179-5; LC 78-23512, $45. At last.

Byzantine Art: Dumbarton Oaks Collections ISusan A. Boyd. - Chicago; London:

University of Chicago Press, 1979. -44 p. + 2 color microfiche, ISBN 0-226-68978-6, LC 78-12272, $29.

Renaissance and Baroque Annibale Carrocci and the Beginnings of Baroque Style! by Charles Dempsey.

-

This content downloaded from 195.78.109.54 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 02:19:11 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions