Essay by Veronica Smith, Class of 2012

A calm, placid lake underscores a weathered canoe as it glides through the water, two rugged men and their dog aboard. The dark green diagonal of the tree line is smoothly contrasted by the silver of the lake. There is a hopefulness inherent in the bright early morning light, and the men pause mid-stroke to look towards the sun.

This piece's subject matter is a stark departure from the action-packed Western scenes Frederic Remington is best known for-cowboys, Indians, stampeding horses, and soldiers-but in sentiment, this image is remarkably similar to the rest of Remington's work. Remington was for the majority of his artistic career a painter, and illustrator, and his images of life on the plains graced the pages of Collier's Weekly (in which this particular image was published) as well as in Harper's Weekly, The Century Illustrated, and Scribner's Magazine. Heralded as an accurate recorder of life on the American frontier, Remington helped foster a new American identity through showcasing the cultural diversity and the natural bounty of the young nation. While this particular work concentrates on a Canadian lake, this composition still engenders the thrill of exploration (not to mention the adventure of Manifest Destiny) that gripped the nation during the latter part of the 19th century.

Remington's paintings and illustrations, while primarily focused on the dynamic movements of his subjects, also share a sense of vast space. In almost all of Remington's two-dimensional compositions, the landscape plays a prominent role in the overall composition. While the details of the action in the image often take precedent, perhaps in the incredibly realistic rendering of a dusty cowboy's spurs or in the glistening sweat on a horse's flanks, the setting of these dramatic scenes serves the vital purpose of foil to the action. More importantly, Remington's background landscapes embodied the hopes of a nation bent on expansion-just as Remington's skies and rolling plains (in the case of this particular work, the virgin forest and pristine waters) seem to extend forever in every direction, as did the dreams of the American people whose horizons at the turn of the 20th century seemed limitless.