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On the Southern Plains

1907
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 767
One of Remington’s favorite themes was the American soldier in the West, of whom he wrote, “His heroism is called duty, and it probably is.” Here, soldiers led by a scout in buckskin charge an unseen enemy. Although the painting was probably meant to refer to the war against the Plains Indians in the 1860s—Remington titled it "Cavalry in Sixties"—the uniforms and weapons date variously from the time of the Civil War through the 1870s. The artist was willing to depart from reality in other details as well. For example, the horses and riders are shown as a dynamic mass rather than in a straight horizontal line, which was the usual attack formation.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: On the Southern Plains
  • Artist: Frederic Remington (American, Canton, New York 1861–1909 Ridgefield, Connecticut)
  • Date: 1907
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 30 1/8 x 51 1/8in. (76.5 x 129.9cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Several Gentlemen, 1911
  • Object Number: 11.192
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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4586. On the Southern Plains

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