The Bronco Buster

The Bronco Buster depicts a cowboy breaking in a rearing horse. The horse and rider are at the extreme of a violent counterbalance, with the horse’s neck twisting to one angle in opposition to the sharp pull of the cowboy’s body. Though dramatic, the composition captures in bronze a moment of graceful suspension. The burst of energy is grounded in the many realistic surface details, such as the motion of the whip, dented folds of the hat, and bunched creases in the cowboy’s shirt. Frederic Remington’s art preserves romanticized notions of an “old” West filled with adventurous cowboys that appealed to the artist’s audiences.