We had just an hour to take in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, my third of the day. N.C. Wyeth, Andrew's father, illustrated your typical cow poke in 1907.
"End of the Trail," an enormous sculpture that depicts the exhaustion Native Americans experienced after being driven from their land all the way west to the Pacific, greets visitors.
And this installation shows who drove them there, the U.S. Cavalry.
The kitschy museum's curators seem to be aware of the current political environment, also nodding to women near the entrance.
This wood carving caught my eye. It's a little hard to interpret.
That's not usually the case. "Prosperity Junction" recreates an ersatz town from the Old West.
Just imagine what going to the dentist must have been like!
Thom put me in jail for insisting we didn't have time for lunch before going to the museum.
Many of the items looked as if they'd been rescued from a movie set.
That may have been why I enjoyed the galleries devoted to the movies and television shows of a less enlightened era most. It seemed like three-time Oscar winner Walter Brennan was in every Western I saw as a child.
Portraits of all the usual suspects hang here, although only Leroy Neiman manages to transcend kitsch with this painting of Natalie Wood's rapist. Oops, I mean Kirk Douglas.
I have to remind myself that John Wayne was once almost as divisive as Agent Orange even if he never did become President. But he certainly acted as Nixon's proxy in Hollywood during the war in Vietnam. There's also a statue of Ronald Reagan. Yeccch.
You can rest assured that this "all colored" Western bears little resemblance to "The Harder They Fall," and not just because "Harlem" was a musical.
Wilson Hurley painted iconic Western vistas in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The provide the backdrop for the museum's special events hall.
Thom really looked the part.
I promised him we could dine at this BBQ restaurant as soon as we finished the museum.
It really hit the spot.
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