Interpretation
Remington’s most ambitious bronze sculpture, Coming through the Rye features four animated horses and riders in a composition remarkable for being largely elevated off the work’s base, with the leftmost horse completely suspended. Based on a drawing from the 1880s and apparently cast in an edition of less than twenty, it was accurately described by the artist as “men represented as being on a carousal.”
Although the artist did not begin exhibiting his sculptures of cowboys and horses until 1895, he had for two decades been producing similar two-dimensional portrayals of the frontier, many widely reproduced as prints and illustrations. Collectively, these works helped construct for an increasingly settled East Coast audience a romanticized image of the American West as appealingly rugged and without restraint.
Although the artist did not begin exhibiting his sculptures of cowboys and horses until 1895, he had for two decades been producing similar two-dimensional portrayals of the frontier, many widely reproduced as prints and illustrations. Collectively, these works helped construct for an increasingly settled East Coast audience a romanticized image of the American West as appealingly rugged and without restraint.
Among Frederic Remington’s twenty-three bronze sculptures, Coming through the Rye is the most ambitious, featuring four animated horses and riders in a composition remarkable for being largely elevated off the work’s base, with the leftmost horse completely suspended. Based on a drawing from the 1880s and cast in an edition of apparently less than twenty, it was accurately described by the artist as "men represented as being on a carousal." Although the artist had not begun exhibiting his sculptures of cowboys and horses until 1895, he had for two decades been producing similar two-dimensional portrayals of the frontier, many widely reproduced as prints and illustrations. Collectively, these works helped construct for an increasingly settled east coast audience a romanticized image of the American West as appealingly rugged and without restraint.
Information
- Title
- Coming through the Rye
- Object Number
- y1991-5
- Maker
- Frederic Remington
- Medium
- Bronze
- Dates
- 1902
- Dimensions
- 73 × 72 × 73 cm (28 3/4 × 28 3/8 × 28 3/4 in.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Laurance S. Rockefeller, Class of 1932
- Culture
- American
- Place made
- United States, New York, Corona, Queens, New York, Roman Bronze Works
- Inscriptions
- Inscribed: Roman Bronze Works #2
- Materials
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1991," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 51, no. 1 (1992): p. 22-78., p. 29, p. 31 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 240 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 254
- Object Lessons in American Art: Selections from the Princeton University Art Museum Saturday, February 4, 2023 - Sunday, January 7, 2024
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