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UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING ART MUSEUM 2010

People of the West: A Collectors Vision Selections from the Erivan and Helga Haub Collection

CREATE: Students will be given time to practice sketching, drawing and writing and may create an artwork that reflects their individual identity or culture. Work on art projects may occur in the UAM Shelton Studio or in their school art or classroom.

OBSERVE:Students and teachers will observe the examples of Western Art in People of the West. They will look closely at the paintings and sculpture, exploring the ideas and themes presented in the subject matter, and the artistic qualities of the work, including style, technique and materials.

QUESTION:Students will have an opportunity to read, write, sketch, and listen to teachers and museum educators, and then, to come up with questions about the work they see, the cultural context and the concepts behind the art work and the artists who created it. Students will question the materials and techniques used and their own responses to the art work in the exhibition.

PURPOSE OF THIS PACKET:To provide K-12 teachers with background information on the UW Art Museum (UAM) exhibition and suggested age appropriate applications for exploring concepts, meaning, and artistic intent of work exhibited, before, during, and after the museum visit.

EXPLORE:Students will investigate the cultural and social context for the art in People of the West, considering the events portrayed, the historical time periods, the stories that grew out of the West and the implications on our cultural identity.

CURRICULAR UNIT TOPIC: Teachers and students examine iconic imagery found in People of the West and think critically about what this tells us about our understanding of culture in America. The focus of this educational packet and curricular unit is to observe, question, explore, create and reflect.

REFLECT:Students will evaluate their final art products with other students from their classes and with teachers and museum educators. They will receive feedback on the art work and the concepts behind the making of the art work. After this process, each person may write an essay about their art, the artist, or their museum experience.

People of the West: A Collectors Vision

Education Packet

INTRODUCTION The art of the American West began its

development in the 19th century with the journeys of artists into the unknown vastness of the West. Correspondingly filling the role of explorers, the artists created images that conveyed a great deal of information about the mysterious land and the remarkable experiences that go along with it.

However, in a departure from the popular landscape imagery that typically defines the Western genre, People of the West – A Collector’s Vision invites the audience to view the American West through the cultural traditions of the time interpreted artistically by depicting the people who inhabited it. With a variety of styles, Western artists reached viewers around the world by depicting what they believed represented American and American

Indian cultures and the archetypical experiences of these people.

As contemporary Western artists today continue to explore the meanings of the American West, they owe a debt to the generations of artists before them. The beliefs and values of the American Indian traditions, the culture and iconic image of the cowboy, glimpses of the Hispanic village, and the place of each in the Western landscape and in connection with each other are represented through both iconic imagery and in the narrative-realist tradition. Spanning from the early explorer artists to contemporary, these artists depicted the experiences inherent in settling an area that contribute to a rich visual inheritance revealing the importance culturally, socially, visually and historically, of Western art as a genre.

- Text Label for People of the West: A Collectors Vision

Charles Schreyvogel (American, 1861 – 1912), The Last Drop, roman bronze works, 1903, cast no. 49, 11-5/8 x 18-3/4 x 5-1/4 inches, Erivan and Helga Haub Family Collection of Western Art,


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BACKGROUND OF ERIVAN AND HELGA HAUBErivan and Helga Haub were born, raised, and live primarily in Germany, however, they fell in love with Wyoming’s landscape and culture and began collecting Western American art in 1984. Since their introduction to Wyoming and subsequent acquisition of a ranch near Pinedale, the Haubs enjoy each summer in Wyoming. Over the years, the Haubs have amassed one of the most important collections of Western American art in private hands. This has been accomplished with the guidance of their friends, Ted and Christine Mollring, former owners of Trailside Galleries in Jackson Hole and Scottsdale. However, most importantly, the Haubs have always collected what they love, and through this have created a unique collection that embraces a vision of the West.

HISTORYThe art of the American West is a vital genre of American art, yet historically its importance has been largely ignored in a time in which the art world is evaluated by European standards. Before the development of Abstract Expressionism in post-World War II New York, the center of the art world existed in Paris and everything beyond was compared and evaluated against that representation. American art, in any form, was considered second-class compared to its larger European sister. Yet, the art of the American West began its development nearly a century before with the journeys of artists into the unknown vastness of the West. Correspondingly filling the role of explorers, the artists created images that conveyed a great deal of information about the mysterious land and the critical experiences that go along with it. Because Western artists are wildly varying in their styles, they reached viewers around the world, depicting what they believed represented American and

American Indian cultures and the epic experiences of these people.

Historically, it is unfortunate that no artist accompanied Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark on the first expedition across the American continent to the Pacific Ocean in 1804 to 1806. It wasn’t until 1820 that artists traveled West and first sketched glimpses of the Rocky Mountains, although seen at a great distance. After the Civil War, the scale and ambition of western exploration increased, as did the pictorial representations. Artists such as Albert Bierstadt were fascinated with the dramatic landscape, creating immense canvases filled with a natural paradise that is beautiful, ageless, and overwhelming at the same time. The landscape became the subject, the primary character, totally devoid of humans, which were commonly only added as a small afterthought to demonstrate scale. The people of the West were certainly not the main focus of the paintings, and these landscape images are among the most popularly associated with the Western tradition.

People of the West – A Collector’s Vision invites the audience to view the art of the American West in a departure from the landscape that typically defines

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), Departure of an Indian War Party, Oil on board, 17 x 24 inches, The Erivan and Helga Haub Family Collection of Western Art


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the genre by viewing instead the cultural traditions of the West interpreted artistically by depicting the people who inhabited the landscape. American Indians, from the plains and pueblos, and the western cowboy are represented through both iconic imagery and the storytelling tradition. Portrayals of the soldiers in the West and the encounters between them and the American Indians are seen from both points of view, along with the rarely depicted images of Hispanic life and traditions. The artists included in this exhibition span from the early explorer artists to contemporary, and a variety of media are used. The wide-range of artists included establishes a broad sense of the West and reveals the importance, culturally, socially, visually and historically, of Western art as a genre.

During the earliest expeditions, Western artists became welcome members to document the journeys. However, Albert Bierstadt approached the West in a manner that separated him from the explorer artists that preceded him. His approach was far from documentary, as he gathered bits

and pieces of the landscape and life of the West to later combine into a larger image, which in the end never depicted a true location. He strived to create a picturesque vision of West. Departure of an Indian War Party departs from his popular large-scale paintings that were meant to overwhelm the viewer; it instead provides a small, intimate, iconic view of Plains Indian life. The scene, likely from his trip to the Wyoming Territory in 1859, is calm and idyllic, portraying his sense of the unspoiled beauty of the West through its inhabitants.

Continuing the tradition after Bierstadt, many Western artists created works that are suffused with the feeling of an innocent and serene land. To create this atmosphere, the Taos Society of Artists depicted the Pueblo Indians as an integral part of nature, illustrating a balance between the people and the landscape through their traditions. The images are unassuming depictions of common, yet iconic, events among the American Indians, demonstrated, for example, by a rabbit hunt in O.E. Berninghaus’ painting Taos Rabbit Hunt and the time-honored

Olaf Wieghorst (1899 1988), The Stranger, Oil on canvas, 28 x 38 inches, The Erivan and Helga Haub Family Collection of Western Art


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ceremonial dances in The Harvest Dance of the Pueblo Indians by Joseph H. Sharp.

At the same time, other images of the American Indian began to tell the story of plight and hardship associated with life in the American West, a stark contrast to the idyllic images of Taos Society Artists and the earlier picturesque art of Bierstadt. These less idyllic works depict a particular event or consequence. Frederic Remington’s Conjuring Back the Buffalo is a specific example of an artist depicting a tragedy that directly affected the cultural life of the American Indian. The near extinction of the buffalo signaled the deterioration of a ritual and way of life the Plains Indians had followed for centuries. Western works of this nature successfully combine the storytelling element with iconic references. Like Remington, other artists have traditionally used the buffalo skull symbolically to represent the decline of the buffalo and imbue the notion of the passing of the traditional lifestyles of the West.

A frequent topic in the narrative-realist theme in Western art is the conflict of the old and new, which is often depicted by placing the traditional American Indian culture in juxtaposition with such modern technologies of the day as the railroad or wagon train. Charles M. Russell’s Indians Scouting a Wagon Train depicts the event through the eyes of the American Indians. Placed at the center of the image, the figures command dominance over the land, including the approaching wagon train in the distance, suggesting a historic moment in the transitory traditions in the American West.

This confrontation is often depicted as non-aggressive, as seen in the work by Tom Lovell, who depicts an actual documented event from the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1803 in Captain Clark and the Air Gun. Lovell depicts a peaceful exchange as American Indians look on in awe and trepidation as Captain Clark demonstrates the new technology for them. At the same time the

artist exhibits his sympathetic feelings toward the American Indian tribes, evident in the foreground as he depicts an old Indian man clutching a young child, perhaps symbolizing this more peaceful meeting of the old and new.

These depictions of conflict brought a new period of realist aesthetics that threatened the metaphorical and idyllic painters like Bierstadt. One such artist, Charles Schreyvogel, although better known for his depictions of the violent confrontation between the mounted soldiers and American Indians in the post-Civil War era, used this realistic approach in The

Alexander Phimister Proctor (American, 1860-1950), The Buckaroo, roman bronze works, 1915, 28-3/8 x 20-1/2 x 8 inches, Erivan and Helga Haub Family Collection of Western Art


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Last Drop to illustrate the bond between the soldier and horse. The figures are stringently executed while the background landscape is depicted loosely, causing the viewer to focus solely on the accuracy of the figures. Because Schreyvogel employed realism to depict the figures, he was later able to easily portray this iconic scene in bronze, which furthered the popularity of realistic depictions of figures in Western art.

In addition to observing the cultural traditions of American Indians, many artists drew upon their

own knowledge and actual experiences, and, as a result, one of the most persistent themes in Western art is the cowboy. Several artists made many trips to the West and became leaders in illustrating the Western myth by using the cowboy as a romanticized character, emphasizing heroic ideas and larger-than-life status. Sculptor A. Phimister Proctor, who grew up in the West, used his extensive understanding of western life to create images that commented on the relationship between the cowboy and his horse. In the bronze The Buckaroo, Proctor captures the struggle between man and horse by depicting a cowboy straddling a bucking horse, or bronco, combining grace with striking kinetic action in the sculpture. The cowboy image has become an icon for the romantic nostalgia of the West.

Western artists also turned to a theme that connected the many geographic locations in the West: the simple lives of the working people. Artists turned to the rarely depicted Hispanic population to illustrate the traditional lifestyles of the Western villages. Depictions often include burros, open markets, rustic dwellings, and the rural countryside, which were dramatically different in relation to the iconic and narrative imagery of the cowboy and American Indian lifestyles. Artists Clark Hulings and Robert Lougheed both depicted Hispanic western life as one in which people are always toiling, either hauling wood or herding sheep, in dull, cold landscapes with bare trees and broken structures.

While life in the West has changed since the first artist explorers began to document and preserve the cultural traditions of its inhabitants, artists still find inspiration today in the rich pictorial roots of Western American art. Many contemporary artists adhere to the narrative-realist approach, such as Martin Grelle whose Camp Meet and Mules depicts a moment in traditional American Indian culture that no longer exists; it is an image filtered through the artist’s imagination. There are other artists who

Gerald Cassidy (American, 1879-1934), Navajo with a Lightening Pattern Blanket, oil on canvas, 34 x 21 inches, Erivan and Helga Haub Family Collection of Western Art


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depart from the traditional stylistic methods to convey Western imagery. Bill Schenck combines Photo-Realism with Pop Art to create images in a flat, simplified manner with vibrant colors to illustrate his characters such as in An Ancient Place. By combining traditional iconic characters with his artistic roots of Pop Art and Photo-Realism, he conveys to his audience that the historical fact and epic myth of the West can overlap.

As contemporary Western artists explore the meanings of the American West, they owe a debt to the generations of artists before them. In 1820, the West was an uncharted dramatic world. Through their work, the early Western artists showed the beliefs and values of the American Indian traditions, the culture and iconic image of the cowboy, the glimpses of Hispanic village society, and the place of each in the Western landscape and in connection with each other. These artists depicted the experiences inherent in settling an area and contributed a rich visual inheritance.

- Nicole M. CrawfordUW Art Museum Curator of Collections

LESSON OVERVIEWStudents will place works in this exhibit in the cultural and geographic context of the American West. In examining the iconic imagery in People of the West the students will begin to think about how our identity, in part, is shaped by the culture/cultures around us.

During their time in the gallery, students will be asked to use a sketchbook or journal. For classes/students without journals, sketch paper will be provided. Students will be asked to respond to the exhibit by building word lists, writing down thoughts or questions, and by sketching artworks on display. These journals will be used as reference to create art in the Shelton Studio.

In the Shelton Studio (or back in their school classroom), students will extend their knowledge

of the American West by thinking about their own identity and how it is shaped by culture. Art projects in the Studio will reflect this discussion. Students may illustrate their own identity, community, or culture. This can take many forms and will be determined through discussions between the museum educator and the classroom teacher

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

GRADES K-6• What is culture?• Define identity.• Where is the American West? What is its

geography? Climate? Plants? Animals?

Veryl Goodnight (American, b. 1947), Back from the Brink (Maquette), bronze, 2000, no. 21, ed. 30 , 24 x 17 x 19 inches, Lent by the artist


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• What is an icon? • What can we learn about the cultures in the

American West by looking at these artworks?• How are works of art used to tell a story?

GRADES 7-12• How does culture influence the style of the

artist?• How is the American West mythologized in

the artwork in People of the West?• Compare the culture/lifestyle of the various

peoples represented in this exhibit.• What role does culture play in forming

identity?

ART QUESTIONS TO CONSIDERGRADES K-6

• What do you see?• Describe the kinds and types of marks the

artist has made.• What shapes and forms do you see?• What colors do you see?• What are the subjects of the paintings and

sculptures in this exhibit?• How are the paintings and sculptures the

same and how are they different?

GRADES 7-12• What techniques can you name in the

paintings and sculptures?• How would you use the same techniques to

make something new in art?• How does Western Art use iconic imagery?• How is the use of balance and composition

expressed in these works?• What materials are used to create the works in

this exhibit? What are the challenges of using these materials?

PRE-VISIT ACTIVITIESIn order to prepare students for their museum visit and extend learning possibilities, we suggest that teachers and students consider the following activities:

• Read about the history, culture, climate, geography, and natural resources of the American West.

• Learn about the plants and animals that inhabit the American West.

• Read stories, fiction and non-fiction, about the various cultures/groups that have lived in the American West.

• Research Western artists such as Frederic Remington, John Clymer, Charles M. Russell, and Albert Bierstadt.

PREREQUISITE SKILLS/KNOWLEDGEMuseum educators will work with teachers to ensure that all projects are age and skills appropriate. Teachers may select words from the following vocabulary word list for students in grades 6-12 to look up and understand:

• Icon• Identity• Culture• Western Art

MUSEUM ACTIVITIESThese activities are suggestions. Museum educators will work with teachers to carefully tailor all classes to their students’ needs, in support of classroom goals and district and state education standards.

PART 1 TIME FRAME: 30 - 45 MINUTES (IN THE GALLERIES)


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• Students will closely observe the artworks in People of the West.

• Students may be given worksheets or journals so that they may respond to the exhibit by recording their observations and impressions through sketching and writing.

• Students will create word lists about the exhibit that help them describe the art work or explain how they feel about it.

• Students will identify the materials used to create each work in the exhibit.

• Students will examine the purpose and subject of art in this exhibit.

• Students will discuss what they see with museum educators.

• Students will engage in discussions about their observations, sketches, and reflections with one another, teachers, and museum educators.

PART 2 TIME FRAME: 45 - 60 MINUTES (IN THE SHELTON STUDIO)The following projects may be considered individually, or combined, or museum educators will work with teachers to develop specific projects which support ongoing classroom work.

• Students will explore artistic devices used to create the works on exhibit, such as shape, balance, and composition.

• They may create their own 2- or 3 – dimensional artwork using these artistic devices. The work should take into account the expression of their own identity/cultures and students should be able to reflect on how their works are similar to or different than their peers and community. Materials to be used in the artwork will be determined through discussions between museum educators and teachers and students.

• Students should be prepared to discuss

their artwork with their peers, teachers, and museum educators.

• Students may write a reflective paper that describes their favorite piece on exhibit in People of the West.

POST VISIT ACTIVITIESWe have found that students achieve maximum benefit from a museum visit when time is scheduled for post-visit activities. Here are some suggestions:

• Use individual sketches to produce a three-dimensional object.

• Use writing to reflect on the museum visit. What process was used to create your work? What was your intent as the artist? What does your artwork say about you?

• Research various Western artists.• Pick a favorite artwork in the exhibit and

write a creative story about the piece. What is the setting? Time of year? Who/what are the characters in this story? What do they have to tell us?

• Research historical and contemporary cultures in the American West.

SUGGESTED CURRICULUM USEPeople of the West will tie into a variety of curricular areas including, but not limited to the following:

• Multiculturalism• History• Art• Language Arts

Museum educators will work with teachers to address specific Wyoming Standards and align museum projects and activities with classroom lessons and assessments.

SOME RECOMMENDED RESOURCESThese are just a few of the many resources available. We welcome other suggestions that teachers and


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students find helpful which can be added to this list.• University of Wyoming Art Museum website,

http://www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum • Exhibition materials such as the Cell Phone tour• Western Traditions: Contemporary Artists

of the American West, by Michael Duty and Suzanne Deats

• Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on Western American Art by Laura Caruso and Peter M. Hassrick

• Frederic Remington Art Museum, http://www.fredericremington.org/

• C. M. Russell Museum, http://www.cmrussell.org/

• Veryl Goodnight, http://www.verylgoodnight.com/index.html

• Buffalo Bill Historical Center, http://www.bbhc.org/home

MATERIALS TO BE SUPPLIED TO EACH STUDENTMaterials for selected Shelton Studio projects are provided by the art museum..

ASSESSMENT & DOCUMENTATIONIn order to ensure that our museum tour program is meeting the needs of teachers and students, we may ask that participants help us assess the activities and learning that take place. Examples of evaluation tools include:

1. Students will self-assess using a quick survey that asks them to consider their response to the gallery discussions and explorations, and their studio experience,

2. Teachers will assess the overall visit by completing a quick-survey that asks for their observation and assessment of students’ experiences, as well as assessment of the overall process of the museum visit.

3. Museum educators will record their observations and assessments.

4. When studio time permits, we will ask students to briefly discuss their art completed in the Shelton Studio.

5. Museum staff may take photographs of students and teachers to document the learning taking place and the work produced during a museum visit. These are available to teachers upon written request for use in teaching and student portfolios.

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