No One Can Fill His Boots

Fifty years ago today, The Gene Autry Show premiered on television.

This popular western series starred Gene Autry (1907–98), also known as "The Singing Cowboy." In addition to having an amazing sixty-year cowboy career in the music, movie, and television fields, Gene Autry also collected art depicting the American West.

Our museum's collection of western art is now touring the United States in the exhibition Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This exhibition can be seen online or at the San Antonio Museum of Art in San Antonio, Texas, through August 13, 2000.

Pictured: William Wilhelmi, Cowboy Boots, 1980, glazed porcelain with gold luster and rubber, 14 1/4 x 10 1/4 x 4 in. (each boot), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist.