A new exhibit featuring the works of American painter John Mix Stanley will open at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody this weekend, thanks in part to a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Peter Hassrickcurated the exhibit. He says Stanley’s paintings of life in the American West in the 19th century are distinguished from his contemporaries.
"He approached it as fine art as opposed to documentation, as fine art as opposed to ethnographic studies," he says.
He also says a comprehensive presentation of Stanley’s work is long overdue.
"The last major exhibit of Stanley’s work was in 1944 at the Smithsonian Institution, and nothing has really of any significance has been done since then," says Hassrick.
60 paintings will be on display at the exhibit, which opens to the public Saturday, June 6th.