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The Broncho Buster

Founder Cast by Roman Bronze Works
1895, cast 1918
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774
"The Broncho Buster," Remington's first sculpture, and the first sculpture of a cowboy cast in bronze, was copyrighted in October 1895. He adapted the subject, a cowboy breaking in a rearing horse, from his drawing "Pitching Broncho," published in "Harper's Weekly" on April 30, 1892. The rough-and-ready drama Remington captured in his paintings carried over to this action sculpture, and the statuette earned quick appreciation as an iconic rendering of the White cowboy. The many bronze statuettes in "The Broncho Buster" edition were first sand-cast at the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, and later, after 1900, lost-wax cast at Roman Bronze Works. Following her husband's death in 1909, Eva Remington (1859-1918) oversaw the production of additional bronzes from foundry molds, but because of the sculptor's attention to quality in the casting and coloring processes, estate bronzes lack the refinement and original flair for detail of the lifetime casts. This "Broncho Buster," although cast posthumously, is significant, as it is the last one—number 214—recorded in the Roman Bronze Works ledger book on December 31, 1918.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Broncho Buster
  • Artist: Frederic Remington (American, Canton, New York 1861–1909 Ridgefield, Connecticut)
  • Founder: Cast by Roman Bronze Works
  • Date: 1895, cast 1918
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Bronze
  • Dimensions: 22 3/4 x 18 3/4 x 14 in. (57.8 x 47.6 x 35.6 cm)
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Helen R. Bleibtreu, 1985
  • Object Number: 1986.81.2
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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The Smoke Signal, Frederic Remington American, Color lithograph
The Smoke Signal
Frederic Remington
1923–60
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. LXXXI, No. 485, Frederic Remington American, Illustrations: wood engravings
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. LXXXI, No. 485
Multiple artists/makers
October 1890
The Century, New Year's Number, January, Frederic Remington American, Lithograph
The Century, New Year's Number, January
Frederic Remington
1902
The Rattlesnake, Frederic Remington American, Bronze, American
The Rattlesnake
Frederic Remington
Roman Bronze Works
1905, revised 1908; this cast, before 1939
A Southern Rider, from "Some American Riders," for "Harper's New Monthly Magazine," August 1891, Frederic Remington American, Woodblock
A Southern Rider, from "Some American Riders," for "Harper's New Monthly Magazine," August 1891
Frederic Remington
Theodore Ayrault Dodge
1891

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