In Addition to Other Adjustments for Major Annual Events

The nation’s premier Western art exhibition and sale will have a new look for 2020. The National Cowboy Museum is pleased to announce the 48th Annual Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale, which will be on exhibit August 1-September 13, will now be a proxy-bid-only virtual sale Sept. 12. Proxy bids for the fixed-bid sale will be accepted as soon as the exhibition opens August 1 until the night of the sale Sept. 12, when the typical in-person sale will be replaced with an exciting virtual experience. Traditionally the highlight of the Museum’s summer exhibition schedule, the show was postponed this year until the fall in support of the nationwide effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.

“Prix de West is the most anticipated event in the Western art world, and it is our honor to continue this tradition for its 48th year in a uniquely 2020 form,” said Natalie Shirley, National Cowboy Museum president. “This year, buyers will have more opportunities than ever to view the artwork before purchasing, as well as expanded features on the online catalog, a series of limited-capacity evening events prior to the sale and the availability of private digital or in-person tours.” 

For more information about Prix de West, visit nationalcowboymuseum.org/prix-de-west.

Updates have also been made to the following annual events:

  • The Annie Oakley Society Luncheon: Annie Oakley Society leadership has elected to postpone until 2021. The luncheon was scheduled for September 3.
  • The Annual Chuck Wagon Festival: Museum leadership has decided to cancel this event since social distancing and other protocols necessary to ensure the safest possible environment for our visitors, volunteers and staff would be difficult. The event, which typically takes place Memorial Day weekend, had been rescheduled for September 5-6.
  • The 60th Western Heritage Awards: The Western Heritage committee voted to combine the 2020 show, which had been rescheduled for October 2-3, with the 2021 show, which is scheduled for April 9-10, 2021. This is due to some participants not being able to attend at this time.
  • The Traditional Cowboy Arts Exhibition & Sale: The Traditional Cowboy Arts Association members voted to cancel the exhibition and sale, which was scheduled for October 2-3, since a number of their artists have health issues or reside outside the US and cannot travel.

“At the onset of this global health crisis, we hoped moving many of our major events to the fall would be a sufficient response,” Shirley said. “Unfortunately, the current situation with Covid-19 makes cancellation or postponement the prudent choice for many of our signature events.”

However, despite the cancellation or modifications of these beloved annual events, The Cowboy still has a full fall of exhibits perfectly suited for anyone to enjoy while social distancing:

 

Exciting Fall Exhibitions

In addition to the Prix de West exhibition Aug. 1-Sept.13, these exhibitions fill the Museum’s event calendar this fall.

 

Tucker Smith Retrospective
October 2, 2020 – January 3, 2021

This exhibition will be truly retrospective, with work ranging from Smith’s early years as a professional artist to his most recent paintings. It will also present the breadth of subject matter he has tackled, including western wildlife, camp and cowboy scenes, as well as stunning landscapes.

 

West: The American Cowboy (Anouk Masson Krantz)
October 17- December 13, 2020

French-Dutch photographer Anouk Masson Krantz’s reaction and response to the American West, initially through her husband’s family ranch in Kansas and from stories of the West she heard from her father, was to document with her camera what she thought was disappearing. What she found during many miles and introductions through Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and elsewhere and via her photographic lens, was that the American cowboy is alive and well in the still sparsely populated West. Consequently, she captured the strength, perseverance and adherence to tradition she experienced on working ranches, small-town rodeos, and cowboy social gatherings. The photographs presented in this exhibition are selected from her newly-published portfolio, West: The American Cowboy (with commentary by Red Stegall, John Pardi and others), as part of a touring exhibition of her work.

 

Blazing a Trail
November 21, 2020 – May 16, 2021

2020 is the centennial for Women’s Suffrage in the United States. For most of the West, however, suffrage was realized years or even decades before the rest of the country. Through photographs, documents and historic objects from the Museum’s permanent collection and Dickinson Research Center archives, Blazing a Trail will explore why Western women as a whole were more successful than their Eastern counterparts in achieving polling parity with men.


Find Her West
December 12, 2020 – May 16, 2021

The American West is difficult to define and far more complex than stereotypes suggest. It is a destination, an experience, an idea, and for some even home. It has few boundaries and crosses cultures, geography, socioeconomics, gender, age and eras. At its core, history is not about dates and events, but the people who experienced them. Not just the famous, but the everyday and ordinary. Using photographs and other archival items from the Museum’s Dickinson Research Center (DRC), this exhibition will reveal this diversity.