The Super Bowl-bound Broncos' name celebrates the city's Wild West heritage. The Denver Art Museum also honors it with its western American art collection. More than one dozen works in the collection feature the fierce animal from which the team derived its name.
We took a look in the galleries on level seven of the North Building and level two of the Hamilton Building to see what's on view right now. This slideshow highlights five captivating broncho depictions in the collection.
Broncho with an "h" was the popular spelling at one time. This is the name artist Frederic Remington used, and he included the artwork name on his bronze works. Over time, the shortened version has become popular.
Image credit: James Walker, Cowboys Roping a Bear, 1877. Oil paint on canvas. Denver Art Museum; Fred E. Gates Collection, 1955.87.
Clyde Forsythe's Flying High illustrates a cowboy and his bronco that are stuck between the Old West and the future that is alluded to by the airplane in the upper right-hand corner of the painting.
Clyde Forsythe, Flying High, 1920. Oil paint on canvas. Denver Art Museum; William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection, H1999.41.110.
This dynamic piece is one of Frederic Remington's most famous sculptures. Despite being an easterner, Remington was famously captivated and insprired by broncos and the Old West.
Frederic Remington, The Broncho Buster, 1895. Bronze. Denver Art Museum; The Roath Collection.
Frank Tenney Johnson's Guarding the Pass depicts a bronco that bares great resemblance to the Denver Broncos mascot, Thunder.
Frank Tenney Johnson, Guarding the Pass, 1936. Oil paint on canvas. Denver Art Museum; The Roath Collection, 2013.120.
Alexander Phimister Proctor grew up in the Denver area in the late 1800s. Pursued reflects his love of animals and hunting.
Alexander Phimister Proctor, Pursued, 1914. Bronze. Denver Art Museum; The Roath Collection, 2013.112.
James Walker's vivacious Cowboys Roping a Bear shows the vaquero method of keeping bears away from cattle. Being able to rope a bear from one's horse required great skill and practice.
James Walker, Cowboys Roping a Bear, 1877. Oil paint on canvas. Denver Art Museum; Fred E. Gates Collection, 1955.87.
