• Introduction
• Henry Farny
• Frederick Remington
• Paintings
• Virtual Tour
• Rentschler Lecture
• Print the brochure (644 k)

Introduction

The American Heritage Center’s George A. Rentschler Room is home to ten significant western paintings—nine Henry Farnys and one Frederic Remington. These paintings appear as they did in the library of George Adam Rentschler, New York businessman and western enthusiast.

George Rentschler was born in Fairfield, Ohio, in 1892. The family had owned a foundry business since before the Civil War and the Princeton-educated George made a priority of expanding the family’s interest to include railroad equipment, engine manufacturing, and machine tools.

In 1936 George married Rita Rend Mitchell. They had three sons, George A. Charles, and Frederick, who continue to carry on the family business legacy. In addition to his success in the world of commerce, George Rentschler had a great passion for the landscape and legends of the West. He spent many hunting seasons in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, thus perhaps explaining his choice of artwork for his personal library.

In 1957 the director of the American Heritage Center, Dr. Gene Gressley, came across a footnote by an art historian referencing George Rentschler’s collection of western art. Impressed with the scope of the artwork, Dr. Gressley contacted the family and inquired about the paintings.

Upon the death of George Rentschler in 1972, his family donated this room and the paintings to the American Heritage Center in his memory. The family requested that the artwork appear as it had in Rentschler’s library at One Sutton Place in New York. Work began on the room in 1976, with architects taking careful measurements of the original room and noting details of the woodwork.

The Center’s George A. Rentschler Room opened in 1980 in the American Heritage Center on the fifth floor of the William Robertson Coe Library at the University of Wyoming, complete with a raised ceiling identical to that in the original library. Upon completion of the Centennial Complex in 1993, the Rentschler Room moved to its present location. The rug and curtains are originals, donated by George A. Rentschler’s widow, Rita Cushman.

The Rentschler Room represents one facet of the American Heritage Center’s success in preserving the art and artifacts of the West and Wyoming and making it available as a resource for study, research, and enjoyment.

Henry Farny

Farny was born in France in 1847 and as a child moved with his family to Cincinnati, Ohio. After studying art in Europe during the 1860s and working as an illustrator for children’s books in the United States, Farny took several trips to the American West in the 1880s. View the Farny paintings in the Rentschler Room.

During his travels, Farny collected numerous Indian artifacts and photographs, while producing several sketches of his own. Returning to his Cincinnati studio, Farny worked from his own illustrations and memory, relied on his collection of artifacts, and occasionally employed live models to create his unique style of Western art.

Despite this method of production, Farny’s Indian paintings are considered some of the most accurate of the genre. Instead of romanticizing Native Americans or portraying them as savages, he situated them in the dress and environment of the time. Farny’s Indians appear dignified and are frequently depicted as the members of a dying race. While his paintings of Native Americans were highly sought after during Farny’s lifetime, his work disappeared into near obscurity in the years following his death. Collectors rediscovered Farny in the 1960s because of increasing interest in the "true West."

Frederic Remington

Remington was born in Canton, New York, in October, 1861, and became one of America’s best known and financially successful artists. Remington’s frequent tips to the Southwest prior to 1900 served as a reservoir of subject matter throughout his career. View the Remington paintings in the Rentschler Room.

Arizona Territory 1888 is a monochrome oil on canvas. It was one of twelve illustrations which accompanied his article "A Scout with the Buffalo Soldiers" published in Century Magazine in 1889. The soldiers in the painting represented the group Remington joined as they traveled hundreds of miles from Fort Grand to Fort Thomas to the San Carlos Indian Agency and back. Captain Powhatan H. Clarke is at the head of the troop, followed by Remington, who wears a standard army summer pith helmet.