Charles Deas and 1840s America

  • July 28, 2010 22:42

  • Email
Charles Deas, Long Jakes, “the Rocky Mountain Man,” 1844. Jointly owned by the Denver Art Museum and The Anschutz Collection; purchased in memory of Bob Magness with funds from 1999 Collectors’ Choice, Sharon Magness, Mr. and Mrs. William D. Hewit, Carl and Lisa Williams, Estelle Rae Wolf-Flowe Foundation, and the T. Edward and Tullah Hanley Collection by exchange.

The Denver Art Museum explores the decade-long career of Charles Deas, an important early painter of American Indians and frontier life in the American west, in the first retrospective of the artist's work, opening August 21.

Nearly 45 paintings and works on paper include Deas's most important paintings—some of which have not been publicly displayed for 150 years—which reconstruct the artist's life and career in the 1840s, a period when western imagery held captive the American imagination.

One highlight is Long Jakes, “The Rocky Mountain Man,” Deas’ striking 1844 depiction of a trapper. With this painting, Deas established the mountain man, with his independent life in the wilderness, as a truly iconic American character. The figure is posed in the style of a traditional equestrian portrait of a hero.

"Deas's life has not previously been extensively documented or discussed by scholars," says guest curator Carol Clark. "By researching his life and artistic lineage, we were able to uncover paintings and shed new light on his brief but influential career."

The exhibition will illustrate how the artist helped shape Americans’ understanding of themselves and their country during the pre-Mexican War era.

The Denver Art Museum is the only planned venue for Charles Deas and 1840s America, which will be on view through November 28, 2010.


  • Email

More News Feed Headlines

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) Sunset, 1830-5.

After 13 Years, ARTFIXdaily to Cease Daily News Service

  • ArtfixDaily / August 15th, 2022

ARTFIXdaily will end weekday e-newsletter service after 13 years of publishing art world press releases, events and ...

Read More...
Einar and Jamex de la Torre, Critical Mass, 2002 (Courtesy of the Cheech Marin Collection and Riverside Art Museum).

Inaugural Exhibition at The Cheech Highlights Groundbreaking Chicano Artists

  • ArtfixDaily / July 7th, 2022

One of the nation’s first permanent spaces dedicated to showcasing Chicano art and culture opened on June ...

Read More...
Jacob Lawrence,.  .  .  is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?—Patrick Henry,1775 , Panel 1, 1955, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, egg tempera on hardboard.  Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross.  © 2022 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Crystal Bridges Explores the U.S. Constitution Through Art in New Exhibition 'We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy'

  • ArtfixDaily / July 7th, 2022

Original print of the U.S. Constitution headlines exhibition sponsored by Ken Griffin (who purchased it for $43.2 ...

Read More...
Salvador Dalí (1904–1989), Christ of St John of the Cross, 1951, oil on canvas © CSG CIC Glasgow Museums Collection

Dalí / El Greco Side-by-Side Exhibit Prompts: 'Are They Really Paintings of the Same Thing?'

  • ArtfixDaily / July 6th, 2022

From July 9 to December 4, 2022, The Auckland Project in the U.K. will unite two Spanish masterpieces from British ...

Read More...

Related Events

Goto Calendar