The American West - Cowboys and Cattlemen

"A Drove of Texas Cattle Crossing a Stream" Harper's Weekly 1867; first of the cattle drives; picturesque; does not mention 'cowboy' but is one of the first depictions

James Walker, "California Vacqueros" (1876)
California the next state after Texas to be the site for cattle raising; costume too elaborate for normal herding, but informed next generation of cinema, iconography; depicted more cattlemen than cowboys, rancheros over vaqueros; indicative of multiracial occupation

Charles Russell, "Waiting for a Chinook" (1886)
in late 1880s, collapse of open-range cattle industry
drought, falling prices
starving steer in snow, waiting for warm breeze of Chinook storm as wolves circle around him
inaugurated Russell's career as cowboy artist

Solomon D. Butcher "William A Shelbourn Ranch on the Snake River" (1900)
Butcher wanted to create a history of Nebraska pioneer life
photographs a way of celebrating accomplishment
special occasion to get Butcher to come out and take glass plate photograph
herd proudly displayed in front of home
family posing together, probably some anniversary, of either marriage or homestead

"Typical cow boy," Kodak Album (c. 1895)
title of photo itself indicative of nostalgia of an earlier way of life
even in his heyday, he was aware that he was an emblem of a passing era

Frederic Remington, "The Cowboy" (1902)
iconic image, classic heroism, cinematic
secured Remington's status as greatest painter in the genre

Marlboro Man (1955)
cowboy indisputably masculine icon
testament to the enduring power the cowboy has on our nation's collective memory and imagination: it's ability to sell