Frederic Remington (1861-1909)

Frederic Remington’s The Broncho Buster is one of the most iconic artworks of the American frontier. The bronze sculpture of a cowboy breaking in a wild horse was an immediate success, symbolizing all that was triumphant and heroic of the West. The artist observed, “my oils will all get old and watery...my watercolors will fade--but I am to endure in bronze...I am doing a cowboy on a bucking bronco and I am going to rattle down through the ages.” (as quoted in P. Hassrick, Frederic Remington: The Masterworks, New York, 1988, p. 182)

The Broncho Buster was originally cast by Henry-Bonnard Bronze Co. in 1895. The foundry produced a total of 64 sand castings of the bronze between 1895 and 1900, making the present work a lifetime cast. Michael Greenbaum writes, "Approximately the first forty sand castings of The Broncho Buster made through 1898 bear production years; the remaining twenty-four castings in the edition generally do not contain the year, but as indicated by Remington’s records the statuettes were created between 1898 and 1900." (Icons of the West: Frederic Remington's Sculpture, Ogdensburg, New York, 1996, p. 30)