The Theatrical Wild West

A color print of cowboys and cowgirls riding rambunctious horses under the words "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Rough Riders of the World."
June 29–October 7, 2018
Second floor

William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody forever impacted the American imagination with the Wild West shows that he introduced in 1893. Thriving for three decades, Cody’s traveling outdoor entertainments spawned numerous imitators and perpetuated a mythology that life in the American West was full of high drama and theatrical spectacle. This exhibition explores how the genre of western entertainments impacted American visual culture, from popular posters and calendars to fine art drawings, paintings, and sculpture.

Original posters advertising Wild West shows along with historic photographs of star performers provide a sense of the original outdoor entertainments of the early 20th century. Features of the genre included recreations of wagon trains, attacks by American Indians, and the Pony Express, while skill acts displayed Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley performing sharp shooting, roping, and riding. The work of historical painters and sculptors like Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, as well as contemporary photographers such as David Levinthal, incorporates performance qualities into western subjects. This exhibition reveals the influence of the Wild West shows on these and other artists whose western subject matter gives a nod toward theatricality. In doing so, they expanded—and continue to do so—the deep mythology that imbues the American West.

Installation Photos

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