Frederic Remington (American, 1861-1909)
The "Hold-Up"

oil on canvas

signed Frederic Remington (lower right)

27 1/2 x 40 inches

Provenance:

Private Collection, Wilson, Wyoming

Fighting Bear Antiques, Jackson, Wyoming

William I. Koch, Palm Beach, Florida

Coeur D'Alene Auction 07/31/1999, LOT 157 Reno, Nevada

Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Newhouse Gallery, New York, New York

Arthur H. Harlow and Co., Inc., New York, New York

Published:

Peter H. Hassrick and Melissa J. Webster, Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings, vol. II, Cody, Wyoming, 1996, no. 2679, p. 763, illustrated

Exhibited:

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., April-July 2003, Frederic Remington: The Color of Night

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Frederic Remington: A Retrospective Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture October 11-November 12, 1967

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, Frederic Remington: A Retrospective Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, August-December 1967

Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas, January-June 1961, Inaugural exhibition, Amon Carter Museum of Western Art: selected works of Frederic Remington and Charles Marion Russell

Illustrated:

Collier’s Weekly (May 27, 1902) p. 12-13, halftone

During the last decade of his life, Frederic Remington was fascinated by the optical effects of moonlight. He worked intensely to capture the elusive nocturnal effects in some of his evocative and dramatic late paintings. Many of these pictures, like The “Hold-Up” represent the high point of Remington’s mature late work.

The “Hold-Up”, 1902, is a large picture, more than a yard wide. It is an image by Remington which illustrated “Ranson’s Folly,” Richard Harding Davis’ serialized story which appeared in Collier’s Magazine in May of 1902. Davis was a leading writer and magazine editor (Harper’s and Collier’s), with whom Remington had worked previously. Davis’ “Ranson’s Folly” tells the story of a flamboyant and boyishly likeable Lieutenant Ranson, who has been stationed at Fort Crockett out on the western prairie. In the story, a highwayman known as the Red Rider had been periodically robbing the stage coach at gun point as it made its way at night from Kiowa City to the fort. The Red Rider was so named because of the red bandana that masked the robber’s face.

Ranson, with a playful spirit of adventure, decided to demonstrate how easy it is to hold up a stage, and he intends to do so without a gun. So, he dressed up like the actual Red Rider with poncho, sombrero and red bandana. Ranson then set out to rob the stage at night only armed with the pair of scissors he used to cut eye holes in the bandana.

The Hold-Up depicts the most dramatic moment in “Ranson’s Folly.” Lieutenant Ranson is seen at the lower right brandishing his pair of steel shears in his right hand while holding a sombrero in his left hand. Both the shears and the spur on one of Ranson’s boots glitter in the moonlight. The side of the coach and the road the coach traverses are starkly yet brilliantly illuminated by moonlight. The stage coach driver has just reined in his four horses. Each beautifully painted horse strains to pull back, and the coachman looks directly at the figure of the gesturing highwayman. Both coach and coachman are silhouetted against an utterly clear, star filled night sky.

The sharply diagonal structure of the painting is one of Remington’s favorite pictorial constructions, and it here recalls a painting from the prior year, 1901, The Old Stage-Coach of the Plains (Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth). The sympathetically depicted horses, the moment of high drama and confrontation, the humorous and good-natured escapade of Lieutenant Ranson are quintessential examples of Remington’s mature artistry, set out in the twinkling half-light of a moonlit night.

- Michael Shapiro

Senior Advisor, Museums and Special Collections

Appears in overall good and stable condition. No visible craquelure or losses. UV light fluoresces in three small points in upper quadrants - just above scissors, just above horse's head and just above stagecoach - possible points of inpainting. Canvas has been relined with wax. Top right edge shows line of scuffing, where frame has rubbed on the canvas. Framed dimensions: 32 x 44 3/4 inches. Please request additional images.

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Western & Contemporary Native American Art

Frederic Remington (American, 1861-1909)
The "Hold-Up"

Western & Contemporary Native American Art

Frederic Remington (American, 1861-1909)The "Hold-Up"

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Frederic Remington (American, 1861-1909)
The "Hold-Up"