Wagons Mules and Men
The Transportation Frontier of Nick Eggenhofer
The new art exhibition, Nick Eggenhofer: Wagons, Mules and
Men, opens January 25 at the High Desert Museum, featuring
nearly 50 works from the West's master artist-historian of how
the West was moved. From Concord stages and 20-mule-team
freighters, emigrant wagons, sheep camp wagons and Western
buggies, Nick Eggenhofer's images reveal in fascinating detail
the vehicles and gear of frontier transportation. No other
artist equaled his illustrations of this important theme from
Western history. Bob Boyd, the Museum's curator of
Western history, said, "The story that Nick Eggenhofer tells
through his works is unique among Western artists. His art does
more than portray the people and events of the region's
transportation history. His detailed paintings, based on a
lifetime of careful study, make Eggenhofer a true
artist-historian."
The work of Eggenhofer (1897-1985) focused on aspects of frontier life that often appear only as a backdrop to the lives of Native Americans, explorers, cowboys and pioneers.Eggenhofer was awarded the Trustees Gold Medal of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1973, produced historical works for the National Park Service, and was exhibited in museums throughout the West.
Just for Kids - Click
here to view a children's book list for Wagons, Mules
and Men
The exhibit, from the Donald M. Rasmussen collection, runs through June 2008 in the Brooks Gallery.
This exhibit is made possible through the generosity of the late Don Rasmussen, of Portland, Oregon. Don was an avid student of Western History, a discriminating art collector and an enthusiastic patron of the High Desert Museum
