ART OF THE AMERICAN WEST: The Haub Family Collection

The Grand Chief of the Sioux by Charles Bird King (1785-1862), Archery of the Mandan by George Catlin (1796-1872), the period when Native American groups became strategic allies for both the Americans and British during the War of 1812, Dakota Indian dancers worshipping the sun, villages in winter, scenes on the Big Sandy River, the Meeting of Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison at Vincennes an historic scene recorded in glorious colour, fur traders, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Grand Canyon, the Falls, the Yellowstone River, a group of buffalo on the plains, a proud Indian protecting his family, with all the traditional dress and teepees, weaponry and footwear depicted in colourful detail, cowboys riding at high speed and Native American artists looking back with their depictions of Thunderbirds and Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Posters. This is just halfway through this tremendous volume of examples of art as collected by a German family named Haub who purchased a ranch in Wyoming in the mid-1980s and began collecting art and eventually gifted the collection to the Tacoma Art Museum. This handsome book displays this extraordinary collection of masterworks dating from the 1790s to the present including over 140 artists in some 320 beautiful colour reproductions of a variety of media and styles. There are iconic American artists including Frederic Remington, Thomas Moran, Charles M. Russell, and Georgia O'Keeffe, as well as under-explored artists such as Walter Ufer and Kevin Red Star. They address the fascinating topics and themes of Native American culture, politics, land conservation, and the implications of Manifest Destiny. But most of all the collection represents the couple's love of the countryside, riding along mountain trails, and we too are entranced by the sense of adventure and openness, the Wind River Mountains, brilliant blue skies and a deep love of nature and interest in history. Here too are cowboys and western landscapes and recent and contemporary pieces which shed a modern light on culture and challenge long-held myths about the American West. There are insightful essays written by some of the most important scholars working with this material today. Quite magnificent heavyweight Yale University Press hardback, hundreds of colour illustrations, 312pp, 23.7 x 28.8cm.