Cowboys in China: The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925 at the Nanjing Museum

James Earle Fraser (American, 1876–1953). End of the Trail, 1918 (cast 1918). Bronze; 33 x 26 x 8 3/4 in. (83.8 x 66 x 22.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Friends of the American Wing Fund, Mr. and Mrs. S. Parker Gilbert Gift, Morris K. Jesup and 2004 Benefit Funds, 2010 (2010.73)

«After the exhibition The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925 closed at the Met on April 13, 2014, it traveled to the Denver Art Museum, where it was on view through August 31. While Colorado is located in the heart of the American West, the show's current venue, the Nanjing Museum in China, represents an exciting new frontier for these sculptures. This is certainly not the first exhibition of American art to travel to China, but it is the first focused on bronze statuettes—including forty-four works by twenty-two artists, with the roster of lenders comprising public and private collections in and around New York and Denver. Although fewer objects are included in the Nanjing Museum presentation than in either the New York or Denver venues, the organizing structure remains the same: Old West themes representing American Indians, cowboys and settlers, and animals of the plains and mountains.»

Nanjing Museum, China. The art hall can be seen at left; the tall temporary exhibitions hall behind it, and the history hall, featuring traditional Chinese architectural features, at center. Photograph by the author

The Nanjing Museum is located in the heart of Nanjing—the capital of the Jiangsu province in eastern China which boasts some eight million inhabitants. The museum, one of China's most significant, is in a large-scale complex featuring permanent collections throughout two buildings devoted to art and history; another structure, which opened in fall 2013, houses the museum's temporary exhibitions program. The Met has worked collaboratively with the Nanjing Museum in the past, most recently organizing and serving as a venue for the 2012 exhibition Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution: Fu Baoshi (1904–1965). In addition, the director of the Nanjing Museum, Gong Liang, participated in the first Global Museum Leaders Colloquium hosted at the Metropolitan over a two-week period earlier this year.

Installation view of The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925 at the Nanjing Museum. Photograph by the author

Transferring the exhibition to Nanjing and overseeing its unpacking and installation involved collegial collaborations between staff here and in China. I was joined in Nanjing by colleagues from the Met's Registrar's Office and Department of Objects Conservation, along with the exhibition's co-curator, Thomas Brent Smith, director of the Petrie Institute of Western Art at the Denver Art Museum. Over the period of a week, the sculptures were condition-checked, installed, and lit for optimal viewing. I gave two tours that were simultaneously interpreted for the Nanjing Museum's education staff as well as local museum professionals. The exhibition gallery includes two spaces that are used for screening American Western films and offer drawing, craft, and other educational programs.

At the exhibition's opening ceremonies, from left to right: Wang Qizhi, Vice Director, Nanjing Museum; Jennifer Russell, Associate Director for Exhibitions, MMA; Chen Tongle, Head of Exhibitions, Nanjing Museum; Thayer Tolles, Marica F. Vilcek Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture, MMA; Heng Wu, Deputy Director of Cultural Exchange Centre, Nanjing Museum; Thomas P. Campbell, Director, MMA; Maxwell Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman of Asian Art, MMA

The exhibition's opening ceremonies, held on September 28, were attended by Director and CEO Thomas P. Campbell and Associate Director for Exhibitions Jennifer Russell, along with Maxwell Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman of the Department of Asian Art. Tom Campbell gave a public lecture titled "Past, Present, and Future at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," and Jennifer Russell spoke to the staff of local museums on exhibitions management. In addition to events at the museum, we were treated to a traditional Chinese banquet overlooking Yueya Lake. Projected attendance in Nanjing for The American West in Bronze through its closing date on January 18, 2015, is set to be a remarkable six hundred thousand visitors, with word about the exhibition spreading principally through social media outlets in China—which includes the Met's Weibo page, managed by the Department of Asian Art. For more information about the numerous themes originally covered in The American West in Bronze and its installation here at the Met, see the exhibition blog that accompanied its run here.

Poster advertising the exhibition at the entrance to the museum complex. Photograph by the author

At the Metropolitan, the exhibition was made possible by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Enterprise Holdings Endowment.

The international tour is made possible by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

At the Nanjing Museum, the exhibition is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with the Denver Art Museum, and in association with the Nanjing Museum.

Related Link
The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925 Exhibition Blog