February 17–May 13, 2007
Forging an American Identity: The Art of William Ranney
Experience an exhibition of beautiful oil paintings depicting vivid scenes of western expansion within the context of American culture and history in the decade prior to the Civil War.
Video on the Art of William Ranney
Listen to Amon Carter Museum curator Rick Stewart talk about the life and work of William Ranney, one of the premier painters of western America in the nineteenth century.
William Ranney (1813–1857) lived and created his art during the first half of the nineteenth century. His powerful interpretations of adventures on the western prairies and plains were highly popular in their day. Today, the works evoke concepts of an emerging national character, revealed not only through depictions of life on the frontier but also in penetrating portraits of ordinary people, lively scenes of daily life, dramatic sporting scenes, and ambitious history paintings that interpret the nation’s past in the context of current events. The Amon Carter Museum is the only venue in the Southwest for this exhibition, the first comprehensive overview of this significant artist’s work in more than forty years.
Forging an American Identity: The Art of William Ranney was organized by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and is supported in part by generous contributions from: The Henry Luce Foundation; 1957 Charity Foundation; Mrs. J. Maxwell (Betty) Moran; Mr. Ranney Moran; The National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art; the Wyoming Arts Council through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wyoming State Legislature; and Wells Fargo.
Exhibition Admission
Museum members: free
Adults: $6
Seniors 62 and over: $4
College students with ID card: $4
Youths 18 and under: free
Admission is free on Thursdays, 5–8 p.m.
Admission to the permanent collection is free.