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84

Frederic Remington

The Mountain Man

Property from an American Collector

83

84

85

Frederic Remington

Frederic Remington

The Mountain Man

The Mountain Man

Property from an American Collector

Frederic Remington

1861 - 1909

The Mountain Man


inscribed Frederic Remington NY / Copyright (on the base) and ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N Y (along the base); also numbered No. 61 (beneath the base)

bronze with dark brown patina

height: 29 inches (73.7 cm)

Modeled in 1903. 

The surface of the bronze appears to be slightly dirty with traces of dirt and dust in the crevices. There are areas where the patina has been selectively abraded to give the appearance of wear, most noticeably on the high points of the sculpture and throughout the rock formation base.


The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colors and shades which are different to the lot's actual color and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation. The condition report is a statement of opinion only. For that reason, the condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS ONLINE CONDITION REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE/BUSINESS APPLICABLE TO THE RESPECTIVE SALE.

Private collection, Detroit, Michigan
The Jordan-Volpe Gallery, Inc., New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1991
Bruce Wear, The Bronze World of Frederic Remington, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1966, pp. 72-73, another example illustrated
Harold McCracken, The Frederic Remington Book: A Pictorial History of the West, Garden City, New York, 1966, n.p., fig. 370, another example illustrated
Peter Hassrick, Frederic Remington: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture in the Amon Carter Museum and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Collections, New York, 1973, no. 85, p. 194-195, another example illustrated
Patricia Janis Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1974, p. 125, another example illustrated
Michael Edward Shapiro, Cast and Recast: The Sculpture of Frederic Remington, Washington, D.C., 1981, pp. 77-81, 105, figs. 33, 69-74, other examples illustrated
Michael Edward Shapiro and Peter Hassrick, Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, New York, 1988, pp. 205, 210, 211, 214, 231, 267, another example illustrated 
Michael D. Greenbaum, Icons of the West: Frederic Remington's Sculpture, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, pp. 105-112, 190, other examples illustrated 
Remington described the rider in The Mountain Man as an "old Iriquiois [sic] trapper who followed the Fur Companies in the Rocky Mountains in the 30 & 40'ties" (as quoted in Michael Greenbaum, Icons of the West: Frederic Remington's Sculpture, 1996, p. 105). Fur trading, one of America's earliest and most profitable industries, flourished from the seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries. By the time Remington first created his 1903 bronze The Mountain Man, the era of the frontier fur trapper had long since disappeared and the mountain men themselves had emerged as romantic western icons. Remington's Indian trapper would have been a lone traveler who had to survive in the unforgiving Rocky Mountain terrain for months at a time. By the mid-1830's, the market for beaver fur had declined precipitously as new fashions in the hat industry replaced fur with silk and beaver became increasingly scarce; the era of the fur trader ended a decade earlier. Greenbaum continued, "during Remington's lifetime, The Mountain Man was one of his most critically accepted works ... It remains one of his most enduring sculptural works, a striking representational image of the frontier" (ibid, p. 107).