Permanent Collection

WESTERN ART

The Booth Museum’s core is Western art. With hundreds of pieces of artwork by over 200 Western artists, visitors will find a variety of art styles, Western subjects, and mediums within the Museum. Walking into each gallery transports you to different locations throughout the United States and walks you through over 150 years of American history.

American West Gallery

Containing more than 100 traditional paintings and sculpture divided into four interpretive themes: Enduring Traditions, First Peoples, Colliding Cultures and Wild, Wooly and Wicked?. Each theme showcases art related to an artistic topic or period in Western history. Visitors experience a 100 year overview of early Western art with examples of work by George Catlin, Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remmington and more, as well as some of the finest Western artists of the 20th Century.

 

The Cowboy Gallery

The cowboy is one of the great heroic figures in American history.  His heyday lasted less than 30 years, but cowboys and cowgirls did not suddenly disappear when the West was fenced.  They continue to be an important part of Western culture as well as a compelling and picturesque subject for artists.  This gallery showcases the cowboy at work, rest and play in more than 35 paintings and sculptures.

Faces of the West
	View many of the unique faces of the West. This gallery includes the most varied range of art mediums in the museum as well as a number of female and Native American artists.

 

Heading West
	Artwork in this gallery depicts some of the earliest people to head West – the fur trappers and the mountain men – as well as the stagecoaches and covered wagons that followed those same trails West in search of new opportunity.

 

The Modern West

View the non-traditional side of the West with a cross section of the stylistic changes witnessed in Western art over the past 50 years.  Among the leaders in this movement were Native American artists Fritz Scholder, Allan Houser, Kevin Red Star, Earl Biss, and T.C. Cannon, all of whom are prominently featured in the gallery.  Contemporary trendsetters Thom Ross, Kim Wiggins, Billy Schenck, Donna Howell-Sickles, David DeVary, Louisa McElwain, Ed Mell, Nelson Boren, Ethlinda Robbins, Duke Beardsley and many others are also well represented in the collection. This gallery also contains over 200 Native American artifacts.

 

Sculpture Court

A signature feature of the museum’s new wing is a two-story sculpture court featuring both traditional and contemporary style sculpture.  Eagle Catcher by Vic Payne is the focal point of the soaring space, surrounded by a floating staircase. Large scale works by Ed Mell, Herb Mignery, Allan Houser, David Manuel, Duane Hanson, Thom Ross and others are also located in this area. Lining the corridor adjacent to the sculpture court are all eight of the works completed in John Coleman’s Catlin-Bodmer Explorer Artists series.