Frederic Remington (American, 1861–1909)
Bronze
27 3/4 x 12 x 10 in. (70.5 x 30.5 x 25.4 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.79)
Remington modeled and copyrighted The Mountain Man in 1903. He described it as one of the "old Iriquois [sic] trappers who followed the Fur Companies in the Rocky Mountains in the [18]30s & 40'ies," probably referring to French Canadian trappers. For his subject he chose a dramatic episode in the life of a trapper: his and his mount's descent on an almost vertical slope. Man and horse work together to make the trip down a treacherously rocky decline. The horse has been given full rein to choose its pace and path; the rider leans sharply back and balances himself by holding onto the tail strap with his right hand. Remington owned a photograph of a European military officer and his horse descending a very steep slope, and he had used a composition similar to The Mountain Man in several illustrations.
The Museum's bronze was cast in 1907 in the lost-wax technique. Because of the extreme steepness of the mountain slope, the statue is taller than Remington's other sculptures. The base was cast separately from the horse and rider, and the two units are pinned together through the left hind and right fore hooves. The Mountain Man's plethora of accoutrements required Remington to give a great deal of attention to each wax model he cast. Relatively few casts of The Mountain Man were produced during Remington's lifetime; the number is thought to be about fifteen.
