Amon Carter Museum

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Editor Pick

Amon Carter Museum

  • February 11, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by zabelle from Portland, Connecticut
Amon Carter Museum

The Amon Carter Museum was the dream of Fort Worth philanthropist Amon Carter. He didn’t live to see it happen but he donated his collection of American Art to as the base for the permanent collection and made provision for a foundation to be established and managed by his daughter to allow for future acquisitions. The Museum opened in 1961 and the building was designed by Philip Johnson, and again he was in charge of the expansion design. It is a beautiful building with a very open and light feeling.

You will have no doubt that you have entered a museum in the Wild West as soon as you walk into the lobby. Works by Frederic Remington line the walls (paintings) and fill the cases (sculptures). If you aren’t familiar with Frederic Remington, you will get a very good introduction here in Fort Worth. For Al who is an aficionado of all things Western this was pretty much as good as it gets.

Remington’s works are not just flat paintings, they are moments caught in time. You can feel the movement , the pain, the strength of the animals, the soldiers, the drummers, the Mexicans, the cowboys, and Indians all come alive. Especially in his sculpture, you are drawn into the moment he has created. On the first floor you will see the works of Charles Russell and Frederic Remington. We really enjoyed "The Right of the Road", it depicts a bicycle rider and a stage coach meeting on a country road. The horses are started by the newfangled apparatus and it is very much a case of yesterday and today meeting head on. Through the works of Charles Russell the Native American is given a face, in the snow, climbing the rough mountain trail and in the battle. These to artist give us the west as they saw it, gritty, dirty, rough, and crude, but also very much alive.

On the second floor you find some of the more usual 19th century American Artists, Childe Hassam, Thomas Eakins, William Merritt Chase, Winslow Homer, George Caitlin, and John Singer Sargent. They have a small but very lovely collection of this period. There is a more modern section which I have to admit I didn’t visit. I did find an artist I wasn’t familiar with, Martin Johnson Heade, an oil painting of two hummingbirds hovering above a while orchid. It was beautiful. There is also a small bronze of Diana which is a copy of the original that stood atop the Madison Square Garden and now in on the main staircase at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Allow at least an hour, probably more, to visit this museum. They have a very nice gift shop on the lower lever rear. When we were visiting there were two exhibits of photographs, one of portraits and one of Native Americans. For information on the museum visit their website at www.cartermuseum.org.

From journal Fort Worth - Where the West Begins

Editor Pick

Amon Carter Museum

  • January 2, 2003
  • Rated 4 of 5 by barbara from Atlanta, Georgia
Amon Carter Museum

Located in the heart of Fort Worth''s cultural district, the Amon Carter Museum is a treasure trove of American art. It was designed by well-known architect Philip Johnson, famous for his Glass House in Connectictut, and it was recently renovated. Originally established through a grant from philanthropist Amon Carter, the museum''s permanent exhibit revolves around work by Frederic Remington, whose painting and sculptures depict the Old West. In fact, we chose to visit the Carter Museum because a friend called the place a "cowboy museum" -- not surprisingly, our son thought this sounded much more interesting than the lily-pad-and-flower paintings he''s used to seeing in most art venues.

The admission to the Carter is free, but I highly recommend spending the money to rent an audio guide ($4/adult, $2/child). Many of the paintings in the permanent exhibit are numbered and, when you punch the individual number into your audio guide, you''ll hear more background on the artist and the work. Many of the narrations are also geared towards children, with the narrator weaving a story to capture a child''s imagination -- this feature can make an art museum a million times more interesting to a kid.

My son and I stood in front of Remington''s painting, A Dash for the Timber, as we listened to the narration. The painting depicts cowboys galloping, as hard as they can, away from distant Indians. This Western adventure scene has all sorts of story possibilities, but we were most fascinated by the black horse in the painting -- no matter where you stand in the room, the black horse seems as if it''s running right towards you, its fiery eyes following your every step as it sets its course.

After listening to the description of a different painting, this one by Seth Eastman, we learned a piece of interesting trivia: North American Indians essentially invented the game of lacrosse as a way to prepare warriors for the hunt! Who knew?!

It was also great fun for my son to discover the cow skull that Charles Russell included next to his signature on all of his paintings.

In addition to the permanent exhibits, the Carter hosts visiting exhibits from noted American painters and photographers.

Museum Hours: Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat 10am-5pm; Thurs 10am-8pm; Sun noon-5pm. Closed Mondays. Closes early on holidays.

From journal Full of Cultural Worth

Amon Carter Museum

  • December 28, 2000
  • Rated 3 of 5 by Christie from Grapevine, Texas
The Amon Carter Museum is a world-famous colletion of western art. They have several Remington bronzes, as well as several oil paintings. I found this museum to be good for adults, especially those who are interested in western heritage.

From journal Fort Worth Western Heritage

Editor Pick

Amon Carter Museum

  • November 6, 2000
  • Rated 2 of 5 by travel2000 from New York, New York
This is I.M. Pei's building, the same architect who did the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris. There is a good collection of American art. I thought both the architecture and the artwork was less interesting than that of Kimbell Museum. (The Museum itself is closed for rebuilding. We only got to view the exterior of the building. We actually saw the artwork in downtown, at a gallery called Carter Downtown. The address is 500 Commerce Street. It was across the street to the Concert Hall. I don't know if the collection is completely on view though.)

From journal Fort Worth, More than Cow Town!

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