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By DL Cameron, Curator and Chief of Design
The current exhibition on at the Whyte Museum, Unbridled, like many of the previous exhibitions, owes a great appreciation to the innumerable people who generously loan their private collections to the museum for various shows and installations. The addition of these loans not only adds variety and texture but also contributes to the success of our exhibitions.
In result the Whyte Museum’s high standards and reputation it has had been able to maintain a long tradition of borrowing artwork from various institutions and private collectors. Many collectors are happy to share their collections with the public. It’s this benevolent spirit of sharing that enables museums to tell a story or enhance a theme. We are immensely grateful to these generous collectors.
Joe Fafard’s Silvers, the painted bronze horse sculpture that opens the exhibition Unbridled is one of many on loan for this show and contributes significantly to the storyline of the exhibition.
Mr. Fafard was one of Canada’s leading professional visual artists who had exhibitions of a wide variety of work in galleries and museums across the country and around the world, including the United States, Great Britain, France and Japan. He is widely recognized as having been at the forefront of his art. His outstanding contributions to the arts have significantly raised the profile of both Saskatchewan and Canada on the international stage.
Frederick Sackrider Remington’s Wicked Pony, is another example of the generosity of these private lenders. It is one of three sculptures lent to the Whyte Museum for Unbridled. I had one guest exclaim that he would have paid just to have seen this sculpture by Remington.
Remington was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor and writer who specialized in depictions of the American old west, specifically concentrating on scenes from the last few decades of the 19th century in the Western United States. He continually features imagery of cowboys, American Indigenous peoples and the U. S. Cavalry.
Carl Clemens Moritz Rungius’ painting of the Trail Riders into Mount Assiniboine, is another example of a loan from a collector that adds to the richness of Unbridled and lends a further voice to the section on the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies.
The exhibition, Unbridled is on display until January 26, 2020.