March 14, 2020–March 11, 2021

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tales of the American West captivated audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. For many Americans, as well as Europeans, the West helped to satisfy an appetite for the exotic. It served to counter the ever-expanding metropolises that had pervaded the United States since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Many artists recognized that the American West was quickly waning and sought to document the terrain and its indigenous population. Still others contributed to the creation of a romanticized, if not stereotypical, vision of the West and the people who inhabited it. While some artists ultimately settled in the West in an effort to immerse themselves in the cultures they sought to render, others remained only visitors to the region–traveling in an attempt to absorb imagery that they would then transport to their home studios where they would create their final products.

In this exhibition, highlights from the Bloomberg collection are displayed among the Museum’s collection of Western paintings and sculpture that when combined, offer a vision of the West as it was understood at the turn of the 20th century.

Read the full “Visions of the West: Highlights from the Bloomberg Collection” exhibition label text in English and Spanish.

Featured: Carl Oscar Borg, The Herd, undated, Oil on canvas, Collection of John and Toni Bloomberg.