To twenty-first-century observers, artistic training may seem an unnecessary frill in a soldier’s education. But during the nineteenth and even the twentieth centuries, military officers were expected to sketch battlefields and design fortifications. Officers of the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, which organized exploring expeditions, were asked to return with the information needed to map the expanding American West. Thus, the Military Academy at West Point incorporated art into its curriculum within a year after its creation in 1802.
West Point Points West celebrates the confluence of military mission and artistic pursuit. Five distinguished scholars—B. Byron Price, David Reel, John Pultz, Roger Echo-Hawk, and Joan Carpenter Troccoli—offer varying perspectives on the seminal role played by West Point and the U.S. Army in the development of western American art.

West Point Points West (Western Passages)

Arts & Photography

Museum, Denver Art

History & Criticism

Denver Art Museum

Thoughtful essays on the status of western American art Memorial to a passing era? Mistress to history? Illustration of popular legend? Where is the art in traditional narrative western art? Is it kitsch or Kunst? In this volume, seven distinguished specialists on art and popular culture―Brian W. Dippie, Erika Doss, Peter H. Hassrick, Patricia Limerick, Angela Miller, Martha A. Sandweiss, and William H. Truettner―survey the terrain of western art in the twenty-first century, tracing and refining its boundaries in the areas of aesthetics and national identity. Their sharp-eyed observations support a newly emerging history of western art that places it in a social, psychological, and political―as well as aesthetic―context. The result is a refreshing, vigorous, and substantial contribution to American art history.

Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on Western American Art

Because western art is by definition topical, it is also by necessity representational, and often narrative. Western artists must therefore rely on a certain degree of realism to express themselves visually. While this tendency toward realism is out of keeping with abstract impressionism, which dominated the art world in the latter half of the twentieth century, it resonates positively with today’s audiences.
Since the early 1990s, the Denver Art Museum has collected and exhibited the works of living American artists who celebrate western themes through representational forms of creative expression. Heart of the West pays tribute to those artists, in particular to the remarkable George Carlson. Their images embody the essence of the evolving American West.

Heart of the West: New Painting and Sculpture of the American West (Western Passages)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Museum, Denver Art. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Museum, Denver Art

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Museum, Denver Art. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

West Point Points West (Western Passages)

Redrawing Boundaries: Perspectives on Western American Art

Heart of the West: New Painting and Sculpture of the American West (Western Passages)