Frederic Remington
[American Painter and Sculptor, 1861-1909]
Biography
Frederic Remington was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the American West. He was born in Canton, New York to Seth Pierrepont Remington and Clarissa Bascom Sackrider. One of his great grandfathers, Samuel Bascom, was a saddle maker by trade. Frederic Remington was related by family bloodlines to Indian portrait artist George Catlin and cowboy sculptor Earl W. Bascom. He spent a childhood hunting and riding, but began to make drawings and sketches of imaginative figures. The family later moved to Ogdensburg, New York.He was also hard to write about.
He attended the art school at Yale University, finding that football and boxing were more interesting than art, and then returned home when his father died to assume some clerical work in Albany, New York. He soon made his first excursion west and became a businessman in Kansas City. He married Eva Caten in 1884 and studied at the Art Students League of New York. He soon began to submit illustrations, sketches, and other works for publication with the western theme. Much of his early work appeared in Collier's and Harper's.
Although he is world-famous for his many depictions of life in the American West, Remington only visited the region briefly several months at a time. He was in time to capture images of the western United States before the area was considered closed by virtue of the subduing of the wilder elements and the inroads of civilization that ended the frontier lifestyle.
In 1890 Remington moved to New Rochelle, New York in order to have both living space and extensive studio facilities. Near the end of his life, he moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut.
In 1898 Remington was a war correspendent and illustrator for the Spanish-American War, sent to provide illustrations for William Randolph Hearst. Although he soon became bored with his task, he was present to witness the assault on San Juan Hill by American forces, including those led by Theodore Roosevelt.
Frederic Remington died after an emergency appendectomy led to peritonitis. His extreme obesity possibly led to his abdominal problems. His obesity is what drew him to his art. He was often self-conscious about his appearance and he felt that he could heal his pain with his work.
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