The Bucking Horse, Wild West |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46919) | |
| Number: | 295 | |
| Date: | 1887 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 84 x 185 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 3 | |
| Known impressions: | 8 | |
| Catalogues: | K.315; M.309 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (8) | ||
The Bucking Horse, Wild West dates from 1887. It shows the 'Wild West Show', which 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, 160 horses, 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 closed on 31 October. 2 Whistler took his step-son, Edward Godwin (b. 1876), and his young brother-in-law, Ronald Murray Philip (1871-1940), to see the show. Years after, Whistler remembered the visit: 'The long "snake" lash in the hands of the handsome and overheated American,... will be easily recognised by Ronnie, or Teddie, from what they remember of Buffalo Bill and his cow boys - ' 3
The exhibition officially opened on 9 May and was open throughout the summer. It closed on 31 October. 2 Whistler took his step-son, Edward Godwin (b. 1876), and his young brother-in-law, Ronald Murray Philip (1871-1940), to see the show. Years after, Whistler remembered the visit: 'The long "snake" lash in the hands of the handsome and overheated American,... will be easily recognised by Ronnie, or Teddie, from what they remember of Buffalo Bill and his cow boys - ' 3
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.
3: Whistler to R. Birnie Philip, [20 February 1900], GUW #04773.