Thomas Eakins, Cowboy Singing, 1892. Oil paint on canvas. Jointly acquired in honor of Peter H. Hassrick by the Denver Art Museum and the American Museum of Western Art and by exchange from funds from 1999 Collectors' Choice, Sharon Magness, Mr. & Mrs. William D. Hewit, Carl & Lisa Williams, Estelle Rae Wolf - Flowe Foundation and the T. Edward and Tullah Hanley Collection, 2008.491

image height: 23.5 in, 59.6900 cm; image width: 19.5 in, 49.5300 cm; frame height: 30 in, 76.2000 cm; frame width: 26 in, 66.0400 cm; height: 24 in, 60.9600 cm; width: 20 in, 50.8000 cm

Plate at bottom center reads: Thomas Eakins, American, 1844-1916, "Cowboy Singing," Given by Mrs. Thomas Eakins and Miss Mary A. Williams. Signed "Eakins" lower right corner. 3 stickers on verso on foamcor: 2 for Christie's lot sale of RR662/AMP; 1 for Philadelphia Museum of Art, Box 7646, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19101-7646, Eakins, Thomas, Singing Cowboy, 1929-104-22 (numbers crossed out).

Petrie Institute of Western American Art

Petrie Institute of Western American Art

This object is currently on view

Although Thomas Eakins lived most of his life in Philadelphia and is not usually considered a western artist, he visited the Dakota Territory for two months in 1887. Made five years later, when Eakins was focusing on images of music and melancholy, this painting is probably a fond memory of that trip west. At that time, cowboy music was just beginning to be studied and revered as a part of America’s cultural legacy.

Aunque Thomas Eakins vivió casi toda su vida en Filadelfia, y no se le considera un artista del Oeste como tal, sí visitó el Territorio Dakota durante dos meses en 1887. Hecha cinco años después, cuando Eakins se inclinaba por imágenes de música y melancolía, esta pintura es posiblemente un recuerdo agradable de aquel viaje. En esa época, la música vaquera apenas comenzaba a estudiarse y apreciarse como parte del legado cultural estadounidense.

Susan Macdowell Eakins [1851–1938] and Mary Adeline Williams, by 1929; Gifted to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1929; (Christie's) New York, NY; Purchased by the Denver Art Museum, 2008.

• 108th Annual Exhibition—Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1913, no. 255
• Eakins Memorial Exhibition—Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1917-1918, no. 6 or 35
• Joseph Brummer Gallery—New York, 1923, no. 7
• Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, 1927, no. 13
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1927, no. 13
• Eakins Exhibition—Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1930, no. 126
• Baltimore Museum of Art, 1936-37, no. 20
• Harrisburg Art Association, 1940
• Eakins Centennial—Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1944, no. 65
• 100th Anniversary Exhibition—Philadelphia Sketch Club, 1960
• "Thomas Eakins, Artist of Philadelphia"—Philadelphia Museum of Art, 5/29/1982 - 8/1/1982
• Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 9/22/1982 - 11/28/1982, no. 106
• "Picturing the Banjo"—Corcoran Gallery of Art, 12/10/2005 - 3/5/2006
• Palmer Museum of Art (Pa.), 3/30/2006 - 6/25/2006
• Boston Athenaeum, 7/26/2006 - 10/21/2006
• “The Western: An Epic in Art and Film” — Denver Art Museum, 5/28/2017 – 9/9/2017
• "Once Upon a Time...The Western: A New Frontier in Art and Film"—Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 10/9/2017 - 1/21/2018