Etchings Institutions search term: obach
Wild West: Indians |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46917) | |
| Number: | 293 | |
| Date: | 1887 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 82 x 185 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 5 | |
| Catalogues: | K.314; M.308; W.228 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (5) | ||
Wild West: Indians dates from 1887. The 'Wild West Show' was part of the 'American Exhibition', one of the special events surrounding the Jubilee of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) in 1887. The ship, containing cowboys, Indians, buffaloes, horses, deer, etc., arrived in the Thames on 14 April 1887, and the show-ground was erected over the following weeks. The Queen visited Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show at Earl's-Court, Brompton, on 5 May 1887. 1
The exhibition officially opened on 9 May and was open throughout the summer. It came to a 'dignified close' on 31 October. 2
The exhibition officially opened on 9 May and was open throughout the summer. It came to a 'dignified close' on 31 October. 2
1: 'The "Wild West Show', The Times, London, 15 April 1887, p. 10; 18 April 1887, p. 10.
2: 'Opening of the American Exhibition,'The Times, London, 10 May 1887, p. 10; 'The American Exhibition', 1 November 1887, p. 9.
Years after, Whistler remembered taking his son, Charles James Whistler Hanson (1870-1935), and his young brother-in-law, Ronald Murray Philip (1871-1940), to see 'Buffalo Bill and his cow boys'. 3
3: Whistler to R. Birnie Philip, [20 February 1900], GUW #04773.