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Sketch for The Portage Sleigh on a Lumber Road

1889
Not on view
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.
Remington often relied on quick on-site pencil impressions as the first step in his creative march to a published illustration. This drawing shows a sleigh laden with travelers and supplies for a moose-hunting trip in the Canadian North Woods. A more developed illustration followed (unlocated) and served as the basis for the wood engraving published in Harper’s Monthly in October 1890. The original sketch is tame in comparison to the final result, in which the sled careens downhill. The latter appears truer to Remington’s description (as recounted by his journalist friend Julian Ralph) of the snowy, rock- and stump-strewn paths as "the roughest travelling he had ever experienced."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Sketch for The Portage Sleigh on a Lumber Road
  • Artist: Frederic Remington (American, Canton, New York 1861–1909 Ridgefield, Connecticut)
  • Date: 1889
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Pencil on paper
  • Dimensions: 10 1/4 × 14 1/2 in. (26 × 36.8 cm)
  • Credit Line: Frederic Remington Art Museum, Ogdensburg, N.Y. (Public Library Collection)
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing