The building in which the Rockwell Museum of Western Art is
housed was built in 1893; the same year that Frederick Jackson Turner declared
the West as ‘closed'.
The Museum collection was founded with an acquisition that
turned out to be a fake. Bob Rockwell
purchased a "Remington" oil painting in Elmira and proudly displayed
it. On a trip west, Bob showed a photograph of it to Dr. Harold McCracken, then
Director of The Buffalo Bill Historical Society and an expert in western art.
McCracken gave him the bad news.
On the Trail in Winter, a painting in the Rockwell Museum
collection by Henry Farney, was used as cinematography inspiration for the
film, “Dances with Wolves.” This painting is currently on view as the Curator’s
Pick: Featured Painting of the Season on the second floor of the Museum.
The Rockwell Museum originally opened in November 1976 on
the second floor of the Baron Steuben Hotel Building and was named the
Rockwell-Corning Museum.
Old City Hall was built by Thomas Bradley and Company for
the low bid of $28,579.50 and opened in 1893.
Before becoming the Rockwell Museum of Western Art, the building housed
hook-and-ladder trucks, horse stalls, firemen’s quarters, jail cells, tax
collector’s office, a dentist and public health office, council chambers and the
mayor’s office.
A Mix Up by Charles M. Russell was on view in the State
Department in Washington DC until it was returned to Corning for the Rockwell
Museum opening in 1976.
The Museum apparently is home to a ghost named Jake. His
presence has been noticed by Museum staff and volunteers and he seems to be
friendly.
The Museum collection comprises almost 4,000 pieces of art
including paintings, sculptures, prints, and Native American ethnographic
material.
The oldest object in the Museum collection dates to c.
900-1200 (10th-12th centuries) and is a prehistoric polychrome ceramic vessel
from the American Southwest (Anasazi culture).
Biggest misconception? The Rockwell Museum of Western Art is
commonly confused to be the Norman Rockwell museum. While this is clearly
untrue, the Rockwell collection does include one Norman Rockwell painting! Entitled “The Buffalo Hunt,” this black and
white oil painting is on view in the Buffalo Gallery.
The collection contains masterworks by nineteenth and early
twentieth century painters and sculptors like Remington, Russell, Bierstadt,
Sharp, Dallin, Moran as well as recent works by Native American and emerging
western artists like Butterfield, Quick-to-See Smith, Warhol, WalkingStick, and
McHorse.
Corning Glass Works (now Corning Incorporated) bought the
building from the City of Corning for $1.00.
The staff and volunteers of the Rockwell Museum of Western
Art served over 5,000 students in 2011 at no charge to school and other student
groups.
Museum visitors are greeted by an 800-pound Indian head that
was cast in 1929 using Pyrex® brand glass by Frederick Carder. It was
originally ordered for a centennial celebration in the Midwest. When the
centennial planners came to preview the sculpture, the mold was removed too
soon and the still hot sculpture cracked through its center. This piece eventually was purchased by Bob
Rockwell (the Museum’s founding collector) for his Corning department
store. Later it was moved to the
Rockwell Museum of Western Art and now greets our visitors.
The Bronco Buster, by Frederic Remington, is the one of the
most recognized bronze statues in the world. An original casting is on display
in the Oval Office at the Whitehouse and the Remington and Russell Lodge of the
Rockwell Museum of Western Art.
The Corning community is fortunate that Montana Winter Scene
survived long enough to become part of the Rockwell Museum of Western Art
collection. The painting was discovered during the demolition of a house in
Elmira, New York, minutes before being plowed under by a bulldozer. Museum
staff quickly discovered that the painting was done by a leading western
illustrator, Harvey Dunn.
The value of volunteer hours to the Rockwell Museum of
Western Art in 2011 was an astonishing $19,500.
Edward Grandt, a longtime physician working in Elmira, New
York, donated his fine collection of Indian art and Indian-themed art to the
Rockwell Museum of Western Art in 2011.
Displayed at the Paris Salon of 1880 and hailed in 1883 by a
critic as “one of the truly great landscapes of our country,” Mount Whitney is
an oil painting that measures nearly 6 feet high by 10 feet wide. This
monumental canvas is on prominent display in the Visions of the West gallery.
Appeal to the Great Spirit, 1909, a sculpture by Cyrus
Dallin, was used as the logo for the Beach Boys’ vanity record label Brother
Records.
The Rockwell Museum of Western Art collection of art
includes a suite of ten original silk-screens by Andy Warhol – a renowned
leading figure of the visual art movement known as pop-art. The suite entitled,
Andy Warhol: Cowboys & Indians, was donated to the Rockwell Museum by the
Houghton family.
The third floor gallery features the extraordinarily large
painting, The Buffalo Hunt, by William Robinson Leigh. Measuring at nearly 7
feet tall and 10 feet wide, the painting is so large that it was brought into
the Museum by crane over the Museum’s outdoor Terrace because it wouldn’t fit
up the staircase.
The iron door to the women's jail was retained in all of the
building’s renovation projects and is now on view near the first floor
exhibition gallery.
The Museum collection of works by Charles Russell and
Frederic Remington is extensive, and includes some of the best-known world
famous works by each of these artists.
One of the most famous paintings in the Museum collection is
A Mix Up by Charles Russell. This painting is scheduled to travel to Calgary,
Alberta Canada for the 100th Anniversary of the Calgary Stampede. Over a million attendees are expected to
attend the Stampede event in July 2012.
In the painting, Clouds in the Canyon by Thomas Moran,
includes the artists thumb print as part of his signature. Many artists did
this to ensure its authenticity.
The Rockwell Museum of Western Art was the host to an
“Appraisal Day” in 2011 where a painting titled Winter, an oil painting by
Walter Launt Palmer (American: 1854-1932) was discovered. To the owner’s surprise, Heritage Auctions®
declared its auction worth of between $150,000 - $200,000.
Over 800 community service hours were completed by local
Corning high school students to complete the two murals as a part of the Alley
Art Mural Project. That is over 33 days
of work.
In 2011, the Rockwell Museum of Western Art hosted more
people than 3-times the population of Corning, NY.
