An oil painting of a group of men on horseback riding directly toward the viewer, shooting guns over their shoulders at people in pursuit.

Detail of an oil painting of a group of men on horseback riding directly toward the viewer, shooting guns over their shoulders at people in pursuit.

A Dash for the Timber

Frederic Remington (1861-1909)

Date

1889
Object Type

Paintings
Medium

Oil on canvas
Dimensions

48 1/4 x 84 1/8 in.
Inscriptions

Recto:
signed and dated l.l.: Frederic Remington \ 1889
signed and dated l.l. below existing signature: Frederic Re[illeg.] [illeg.]89
Verso:
label fragment on [removed] frame: AME[RICA]N ART ASSOCIAT[ION] \ 6 EA[ST] 23D STREET, M[AD]ISON SQUARE SOUTH, [torn] \ NEW [Y]ORK. \ S[torn] \ [torn] \ Artist o[torn] [torn] er_______ \ Addres[s] ________ \ Return ________ \ [E]xhibition 188[torn].
Collection Name

Amon G. Carter Collection
Credit Line

Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Amon G. Carter Collection
Accession Number

1961.381
Copyright

Public domain

Across an arid plain, eight men ride for cover. Just before reaching the trees, one keels over, having been struck by a bullet. Close behind, a group of Native Americans follows in hot pursuit, and it is not clear who will emerge victorious.

Remington executed this climatic scene after Harper’s Weekly sent him west from his home in New York to document army efforts to capture the Apache leader Geronimo. Following the trip, Remington devised this fictional scene to convey the bravery and comradery of western cowboys. The picture was a critical sensation, and it would shape future popular imaginings of western life. Despite its remarkable drama, A Dash for the Timber simplifies a more complex reality. Remington presents settlers and Indigenous peoples as incompatible, linked only through acts of violence. This visual rhetoric denies Native Americans their humanity, portraying them as the primary aggressors, and it obscures accounts of diplomacy and cross-cultural exchange that did not culminate in open conflict..

—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)

Location: On view

Part of: Amon G. Carter Collection

See more by Frederic Remington

Educator Resources

What tools do artists use to convey a sense of movement and tension?

What role does setting play in a narrative painting?

How does an artist incorporate light into a work of art?

What impact does an artist's use of light and shadow have on the viewer's experience of an artwork?

What role do stereotypes play in an audience’s understanding of works of art?
Grades Pre-K–3

Students will explore motion in art by using only lines to draw the movements seen in the painting (wavy lines for gallop, forward slash for leaning, spiral for turning cowboy, etc.).

Grades 3–5

Students will explore the beginning, middle, and end in narratives. They will imagine they are one of the people in this painting. Using carefully chosen words, they should describe their adventurous day to a friend.

Grades 3–8

Show a photograph of Fredric Remington and drawings he made of horses. What is important about the horses in this painting? Share motion studies (or a flipbook) of horses by Eadweard Muybridge.

On 2-by-12 inch paper, students can create a series of drawings depicting movement.

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