The Noble Hunt

A hunting-themed exhibition is now open at the Stark Museum in Orange, Texas.

American artworks depicting hunting are almost entirely confined to the last two centuries, but in Europe the subject has a long and prosperous history that extends back much further. European hunting scenes are the subject of a new exhibition, A Noble Pastime: Hunting Pictures from the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, at the Stark Museum of Art in Orange, Texas. Sawrey Gilpin (1733-1807) and Philip Reinagle (1749-1833), The Display on the Return to Dulnon Camp, August 1786, ca. 1786, oil on canvas, 44¼ x 64”. Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston, 1987.1. Image courtesy of Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston. Photograph © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Johann Heinrich Tischbein II (1742-1808), A Hunting Dog Stalking, 1773, etching, 5 x 6¼”. Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston, 2019.9. Image courtesy of Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston. Photograph © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

What do these images from across the Atlantic Ocean have to do with the American West? More than you might think, according to the museum.

“We have talked about this exhibition for a number of years. The exhibit is a little different than our usual Western art exhibition, but it will connect and resonate with audiences because it offers a great way to look at hunting within a different context, a European context,” says Stark curator Sarah E. Boehme. “There are some wonderful differences in the work. One of the delights are the still life paintings, showing the opulence of the European hunting atmosphere with dead game as trophies, a beautiful emphasis on texture and then just an overall European look with baroque compositions that are intricate and vivid.”George Stubbs (1724-1806), Truss, A Hunter, 1802 or 1803, oil on canvas, 20 3/8 x 24 1/8”. Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston, 1985.11. Image courtesy of Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston. Photograph © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The exhibition, which borrows from the Sarah Blaffer Foundation, will feature 50-plus objects, with some of the artworks going back as far as the 16th century. One of the highlights is the 64-inch-wide painting The Display on the Return to Dulnon Camp, August 1786, painted by both Sawrey Gilpin and Philip Reinagle. The painting shows a magnificent canyon landscape, but also a camp with several hunters showing off a huge display of hunting trophies, from deer and fish to grouse and ducks. “It is based on the adventures of a nobleman who was a hunter. He went on this expedition through Scotland and northern England, and then commissioned two artists to do a scene,” Boehme says. “It’s a beautiful scene by a waterfall and it shows the appeal of the outdoors, including the benefit of being outdoors and the fresh air. You can also see the comradery of the group, particularly the revival of falconry in England with an array of hawks awaiting their hunting assignments.”Johann Heinrich Tischbein I (1722-1789), Jumping Wild Boar, 1794, etching, 7¼ x 9”. Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston, 2019.8. Image courtesy of Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston. Photograph © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.Viewers will also be able to draw a direct line to the American West as the Stark shows some of its own hunting images in a nearby gallery. Works include The Mountain Man by Frederic Remington, Meat for Wild Men by Charles M. Russell and Bull Moose by Henry Shrady.

The exhibition will be on view through February 8, 2023. —

A Noble Pastime: Hunting Pictures from the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation
Through February 8, 2023
Stark Museum of Art, 712 Green Avenue, Orange, TX 77630
(409) 886-2787
www.starkmuseum.org