The Outlaw

Details

FREDERIC REMINGTON (1861-1909)
The Outlaw
inscribed 'Copyright by/Frederic Remington' (on the base)—inscribed with foundry mark 'ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N-Y-' (along the base)—inscribed 'No 21-' (beneath the base)
bronze with black patina
23 in. (58.4 cm.) high
Modeled in 1906; cast by 1917.

Provenance

Johnny Cash and June Carter, Nashville, Tennessee.
Estate of the above.
Sotheby's, New York, 16 September 2004, lot 695, sold by the above.
J.N. Bartfield Galleries, Inc., New York.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 2005.

Literature

H. McCracken, Frederic Remington: Artist of the Old West, New York, 1947, p. 155, pl. 46, another example illustrated.
The Paine Art Center and Arboretum, Frederic Remington: A Retrospective Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, exhibition catalogue, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 1967, n.p., no. 56, another example illustrated.
P. Hassrick, Frederic Remington: Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture in the Amon Carter Museum and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Collections, New York, 1973, pp. 202-03, another example illustrated.
P.J. Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1974, pp. 15, 19, 124, 143, pl. 5, another example illustrated.
Denver Art Museum, Frederic Remington: The Late Years, exhibition catalogue, Denver, Colorado, 1981, p. 61, another example illustrated.
M.E. Shapiro, Cast and Recast: The Sculpture of Frederic Remington, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1981, pp. 55, 107, no. 36, illustrated.
M.E. Shapiro and P. Hassrick, Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, New York, 1988, p. 216, pl. 61, another example illustrated.
Gerald Peters Gallery, Frederic Remington, exhibition catalogue, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1991, pp. 62-63, another example illustrated.
M.D. Greenbaum, Icons of the West: Frederic Remington's Sculpture, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, pp. 133-37, 194, other examples illustrated.
Gerald Peters Gallery, Remington: The Years of Critical Acclaim, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1998, pp. 116-17, another example illustrated.
B. Dippie, The Frederic Remington Art Museum Collection, Ogdensburg, New York, 2001, pp. 170-71, another example illustrated.
J. Cash, "Hurt," Vevo, 2002, YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AHCfZTRGiI&list=RD8AHCfZTRGiI&start_radio=1.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Tylee Abbott Senior Vice President, Head of American Art

tabbott@christies.com +1 212 707 5925

Lot Essay

In a 1905 Christmas card to Roman Bronze Works owner, Riccardo Bertelli, Frederic Remington drew a sketch for the model of The Outlaw and posed the question, "Can you cast this?" and playfully added his own response on behalf of Bertelli, "Do you think I am one of the Wright brothers?" The dramatic and ambitious pose of the figure on the bucking horse would be an exciting challenge for both the artist and foundry. The present example is cast number 21 of approximately 40 examples produced by the Roman Bronze Works Foundry. Assigned a ledger date of May 31, 1917, the work was likely cast around that time.

"Throughout his career Remington depicted in two and three dimensions the tenacity and balance of the 'wild riders'— the men who tamed saddle horses. He wrote that, 'the 'bucking' process is entered into with great spirit by the pony but once, and that is when he is first under the saddle-tree. If that 'scrape' is 'ridden out' by his master the broncho's spirit is broken." (as quoted in M.D. Greenbaum, Icons of the West: Frederic Remington's Sculpture, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, p. 133) The Outlaw is Remington's ultimate tribute to the rapidly changing era of the cowboy that he had devoted his life and art to documenting.

This cast was previously in the collection of Johnny Cash and June Carter and was featured in Cash’s 2004 music video for his song Hurt.

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