Harry Jackson, Trail Boss, 1958, bronze, 16 7⁄8 x 3 1⁄4 x 19 in. (42.8 x 8.3 x 48.3 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Olin Dows, 1983.90.220
Copied
Artwork Details
- Title
- Trail Boss
- Artist
- Date
- 1958
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 16 7⁄8 x 3 1⁄4 x 19 in. (42.8 x 8.3 x 48.3 cm)
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Olin Dows
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- bronze
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Equestrian
- Occupation — other — cowboy
- Figure male — full length
- Object Number
- 1983.90.220
Artwork Description
“The West inspires my life,” Harry Jackson said, and Trail Boss and Where the Trail Forks are two of his many bronzes of the subject. When Jackson was a child in Chicago, his mother worked as a waitress near the stockyards, where cowboys and cattle traders gathered and told tales of the Old West. He wanted to present cowboys as realistically as possible, and liked “taking something that [movies] have made saccharine and making it real again.” (Janet Wilson, ARTnews, December 1978; Time, May 30, 1960)