THE PUNCHER BY FREDERIC REMINGTON
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Frederic Remington The Puncher 1895 Oil on canvas 24 inches x 20 1/8 inches |
| Painted in 1895, The Puncher was a gift to noted illustrator Howard Pyle in return for one of Pyle's pirate illustrations, which had caught Remington's eye. If pirates were pearls to Pyle, cowboys were "gems" to Remington. "The cowboys of whom I meet--many are quiet, determined and very courteous and pleasant to talk to," he wrote. "Their persons show wear and exposure and all together they look more as though they followed cattle than the persuit of pleasure. Such lined and grizzled and sun scorched faces are really quite unique." But undercut romanticism as he might, Remington could not help seeing "the puncher" as a heroic ideal. |