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ST. LOUIS — Navigating the West: George Caleb Bingham and the River will open this Sunday, Feb. 22 at the Saint Louis Art Museum. This exhibition brings together the river paintings and drawings of George Caleb Bingham, for the first time in decades.
Dubbed “the Missouri artist,” Bingham (1811-1879) moved to the state as a child and, by the 1840s, began painting the scenes of western life for which he is now famous. Through 22 paintings and 50 drawings, Navigating the West focuses on Bingham’s iconic depictions of frontier life on and along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
“In a lot of [Binghams] images there is a real sense of serenity to them,” Janeen Turk, assistant curator of American Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum, said. “The boatmen of this time period in popular literature were always described as very violent, criminal figures, but you don’t see any of that in Bingham’s work. He treats them with a sort of dignity.”
The Bingham exhibit is the most extensive and ambitious of three coinciding exhibitions exploring multiple visions of landscape and the river in 19th-century American art. Visitors to Navigating the West will be able to enjoy the exhibitions Scenic Wonder: An Early American Journey Down the Hudson River and Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life, which are both cornerstones in the development of American landscape art.
For Navigating the West, Bingham masterpieces from across the nation will join iconic paintings from the Art Museum’s American collection, including Raftsmen Playing Cards, The Wood-boat and Jolly Flatboatmen in Port. Even longtime fans of these works will see them in a new light, as part of Bingham’s larger consideration of the river.
L-R: George Caleb Bingham, American, 1811-1879; Raftsmen Playing Cards, 1847; oil on canvas; 28 1/16 x 38 1/16 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Bequest of Ezra H. Linley by exchange 50:1934 | George Caleb Bingham, American, 1811-1879; The Wood Boat, 1850; oil on canvas mounted on board; 25 1/8 x 30 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 14:1951 | George Caleb Bingham, American, 1811-1879; Jolly Flatboatmen in Port, 1857; oil on canvas; 47 1/4 x 69 5/8 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 123:1944
The exhibition also includes Bingham’s early portraits featuring rivers, allowing for an examination of the ways in which proximity to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers shaped his career and art production, even before he turned to his river workers.
“Portraiture was incredibly important for Bingham. It’s how he supported himself throughout much of his career, and for the first decade or so of his career, he was a portraitist,” Turk said. “One of the ideas that’s presented in the show is that these experiences – this decade of experience – painting westerners, painting Missourians, was brought to bear when he started painting western boatmen, which was the subject matter that would really bring him to national prominence.”
Two of Bingham’s river compositions–In a Quandary and The Jolly Flatboatmen–were circulated as prints. These prints allowed Bingham’s work to reach a much wider audience than the paintings ever could. Impressions of these prints will be included in the exhibition as well.
Navigating the West also includes the recently restored Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley. Painted by artist John J. Egan around 1850, at the same time as Bingham’s masterworks, the 348-foot-long Panorama also depicts life on and along the western rivers.
The exhibition opens to the public on Sunday, Feb. 22 and runs through May 17. Ticket prices for the general public are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and $6 for children ages 6 to 12. Children under the age of 6 are free. The exhibition is free for all visitors on Fridays.
Copyright HEC-TV, 2015
(Top image: George caleb Bingham, American, 1811-1879; The Jolly Flatboatmen, 1846; oil on canvas; 38 1/8 x 48 1/2 inches; Manoogian Collection)
