The Cat Photograph by Frank Eugene
Let’s dive a little deeper into the history of one of the photographs in this exhibition: Frank Eugene’s The Cat.
Let’s dive a little deeper into the history of one of the photographs in this exhibition: Frank Eugene’s The Cat.
A selection of old favorites and exciting new additions from the Western American Art collection are currently on display in the Hamilton Building. The oldest oil painting in the western American art collection—Charles Bird King’s portrait of Hayne Hadjuhini, the young wife of an Oto chief—was painted in 1822, when many American Indian tribes traveled to Washington, DC to negotiate treaties. In fact, most of the nineteenth-century western paintings now on display were painted on the East Coast.
Studio Paintings
Frederic Remington’s The Cheyenne is considered one of the most important works in the Denver Art Museum's western American art collection. The title, The Cheyenne, gives the tribal affiliation of the rider, but the rest of the narrative has been left to the viewer’s imagination. He could be in pursuit of startled prey, calling back to his fellow hunters to excite fervor for the chase, or perhaps he is the prey, and his head turns slightly to look at his pursuer.
In the Saddled/Ensillados section of Stampede: Animals in Art a string of multi-colored horses gallop, buck, and rear above other equine-related artworks. In 1936 artist Frank Mechau (pronounced “may-show”, 1904–1946) prepared this 60-foot-long study for a mural in the courtyard of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Uniting the diverse influences of his travels to artistic hubs of the early twentieth century–including Chicago, New York, Paris, Munich, and Florence–this work also reflects Mechau’s lifelong interest in the subjects of his native American West.
The Denver Art Museum is one of the largest art museums between Chicago and the West Coast, with a collection of more than 70,000 works of art. While the North Building is being renovated, the museum will be hosting cross-departmental exhibitions to display artworks from visitor favorites to ones that are rarely seen. The first such exhibition, Stampede: Animals in Art, is a celebration of the DAM's extensive collection that explores how animals are used in art.
Yes, you can! The video game Never Alone is part of the Denver Art Museum exhibition Stampede: Animals in Art.
What is Never Alone?
In Never Alone (also known as Kisima Inŋitchuŋa in the Alaska Native Iñupiaq language), players take on the roles of a young Iñupiaq girl and an arctic fox in an atmospheric puzzle platformer that combines traditional stories, settings, and characters that have been handed down over generations by Alaska Native people whose roots and heritage date back millennia.
Every year between 1908 and 1952, Swedish-born American artist Sven Birger Sandzén (1871-1954) traveled into the Colorado Rockies and produced vibrant interpretations of the state’s “beauty of bigness.” Thanks to the generosity of the DAM Westerners, the Petrie Institute of Western American Art’s acquisitions group, Sandzén’s A Mountain Symphony (Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado) is on display to the public for the first time in 90 years.
The 'American Van Gogh'
Note: This blog was originally published for the exhibition Drawn to Action. Since Don't Buy Ivory is on view again in Stampede: Animals in Art, we are republishing it.
See Your Pet on the Gallery Wall
For the exhibition Stampede: Animals in Art the Denver Art Museum invites visitors to share photos of your pets on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #DAMpets. These photos will appear in the exhibition’s “Beloved” section in a livestream on a framed iPad hung side-by-side with artworks from DAM’s collections. You will find this section on level 3 of the DAM’s Hamilton Building.
The DAM is amongst a small group of museums that have such a captivating card catalog.
Creativity and imagination fill the gallery space in the lower level of the North Building at the Denver Art Museum. The DAM is currently showcasing artwork by early childhood students—children under the age of six. All of the pieces on view were created by the students of Mile High Early Learning and Clayton Early Learning. The artwork has been created in a variety of ways with a wide range of materials. These creative young artists have made a stunning array of colorful and eye-catching artwork with the help of dedicated teachers and staff.