Works of Art

By the time Remington completed this painting, his career was at a high point. He was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design, a singular honor and a clear indication that he had “arrived” as an artist. Full of confidence concerning his abilities, he continued to refine his skills as a painter. As scholars have shown, Remington’s style in a painting such as this was influenced by the hard-edged realism of the French military painters, whose works were available to him in New York collections. As the artist’s friend, the writer Julian Ralph, noted in 1895: “Without imitating any Frenchman, without an inspiration that he consciously owes to France, he yet is French in the stubborn allegiance to truth that he puts in every picture that he makes.” But at the same time, Remington was following a well-established and typically American strain of direct naturalism.

For the group of soldiers in the foreground, Remington actually borrowed an earlier composition of his own, a sketch done during a trip to Arizona and New Mexico in 1888. In this period Remington grew to become one of the most ardent spokesmen for the U.S. Cavalry, and reforms within the military infrastructure. General Nelson A. Miles, one of the senior officers who were thought to be in line for commander of the U.S. Army, was one of the artist’s most important admirers. As the demand for Remington’s work steadily increased, he continued to tap the wellspring of his earlier field work for inspiration. This painting was included in Remington’s first one-man exhibition and auction, consisting of nearly one hundred works, held at the American Art Galleries in January 1893. Practically all of the pieces were sold, and the receipts nearly equalled those of the entire annual exhibition at the National Academy of Design.