Bruce, Chris — Myth of the West

New York / Seattle, Rizzoli / Henry Art Center, 1990. First Edition. Hardcover. Size: 4to 11" - 13" tall. Exhibition catalogue from a show that featured the works spanning 1832 to 1989 and artists as varied as George Catlin, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Charles Russell, Georgia O'Keeffe and Andy Warhol. Fine-looking, structurally sound hardcover, little discernible wear, bright interior, unmarked. Bright and shiny dust jacket, illustrated, little worn. Introduction by the Senior Curator of this 1990 show, Chris Bruce, and then with essays by him and by Brian W. Dipple, Paul Fees, Mark Klett, and Kathleen Murphy. Big, tall, oblong quarto format, many hundreds of fine images, Preface by Richard Andrews. 191 pp. and including a full index, notes and bibliography to the exhibit. From a Library Journal review, "For Bruce the "myth of the west" has two major aspects: the "lone individual" who becomes a hero and "the landscape . . . the stage set upon which this drama of the western myth is played out." His focus in this exhibition catalog for the Henry Gallery in Seattle is the role of the visual arts in shaping and defining this myth. Bruce begins with the paintings of Catlin and Bodmer and ends with contemporary photographs and movies. The catalog's best essays are Brian W. Dipple's discussion of the mixing and merging of myth in Remington's paintings and Kathleen Murphy's examination of the mythic proportions of the movie Western. This is an informative and thought-provoking discussion of a major component of the American psyche."Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. . . . Fine/Very Good,