At A Glance
One of the country’s earliest examples of a site-specific work
Frederic Remington’s only large-scale bronze
Modeled on a horseman and Chester County, PA native who posed for Remington on site
Frederic Remington found inspiration in the roughriders of the American West. He was intrigued by the interaction of the cowboy and his horse and drew both extensively. After living in the West and establishing himself as an illustrator, he returned to New York in 1886 and began working in oils and modeling clay.
Remington modeled the cowboy on Charlie Trego, a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and a friend from his cowboy days in Montana.
In March 1905 the president of the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Association for Public Art) suggested that a statue of a cowboy be commissioned for the park. Remington had worked on a small scale until this time and was apparently intrigued by the prospect of a larger work. He drove through Fairmount Park and finally selected a site: a rock ledge jutting out over East River Drive (now Kelly Drive). As the records indicate, the site was “Mr. Remington’s choice and not selected until after he got a horseman to pose for him in that exact place.” Remington modeled the cowboy on Charlie Trego, a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and a friend from his cowboy days in Montana. Installed in 1908, the sculpture is one of the country’s earliest examples of a site-specific work. However, it was to be Remington’s only large-scale bronze. He died the year after the installation of Cowboy.
Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).
Voices heard in the Museum Without Walls: AUDIO program: Ann Greene is the author of Horses at Work: Harnessing Power in Industrial America. Ed LaVarnway is the former Director of the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, New York. Jody Pinto is an artist who is internationally recognized for her site-specific public art work. | Segment Producer: Sarah Lilley
Museum Without Walls: AUDIO is the Association for Public Art’s award-winning audio program for Philadelphia’s outdoor sculpture. Available for free by phone, mobile app, or online, the program features more than 150 voices from all walks of life – artists, educators, civic leaders, historians, and those with personal connections to the artworks.
RESOURCES
This artwork is part of the Along Kelly Drive tour
