The Sons of Charlie Russell: The Cowboy Artists of America

May 27th – September 5th, 2022

Since their founding in 1965, the Cowboy Artists of America have maintained an artistic style of representational realism that continues to define the canon of traditional Western American art popularized by the turn-of-the-century artist-illustrators who made the West their subject and calling. The outgrowth of stylistic devices, core themes, observational perspective, and detailed brushwork and sculpting from the likes of Remington and Russell to the Cowboy Artists of America serves as a unifying visual link that unites the artists across generations and provides a core set of criteria for what traditional Western art looks like. The Sons of Charlie Russell: Cowboy Artists of America highlights these continuities to tell the story of the evolution of contemporary Western art in the modern era.

The exhibition will follow the chronological trajectory of the CAA from its founding in 1965 to the present day, with a special section of the show reserved for foundational artists of the American West who inspired the group’s work. The main focus of the show will be the history of the CAA as defined and informed by key events related to the organization itself within the broader context of current events and American art history. This part of the show will be divided into four sections with five featured artists each.

Exhibition Images