The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, closed and then reopened an exhibition that unpacked the concept of the cowboy, critiquing it through the lens of race, gender, sexuality, and nationality.
That exhibition, formally titled “Cowboy,” aspired to “disrupt the homogenous ideal of the cowboy as a White, cisgender American male,” per its release. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, which first mounted it last September, the exhibition features a range of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and queer artists.
Among those artists are Ana Segovia, a current participant in the Venice Biennale whose work in this show queers the charro archetype; Deana Lawson, a photographer who is here presenting images of Black cowboys; and Mel Chin, who is showing a saddle formed of barbed wire as a statement on “the Catholic colonization of Texas,” per a description on his website.
Many of these works stand in stark opposition to what is housed in the museum’s permanent collection, which is rich in 19th-century paintings of the American West by artists such as Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. These artists frequently portrayed cowboys as white males who triumph over the nature and Native American people of the region.
According to the Fort Worth Report, which first reported the news, “Cowboy” opened as planned at the Amon Carter Museum on September 28 and had closed by October 11. It is now open again, with one addition: a label that warns of “mature content.” Viewers are now invited to preview works in the show before entering by accessing them via a QR code.
It was not clear which works were being referenced or why the show closed at all based on a statement provided by the museum to the Fort Worth Report.
“We received some feedback about the exhibition’s content and needed time to evaluate and get aligned on messaging for visitors,” the museum told that publication. “The Carter welcomes audiences who bring different perspectives and backgrounds, and we wanted to give visitors a chance to preview the works before entering the exhibition, so we added signage outside the exhibition entrance with a link to the exhibition checklist.”
The Amon Carter Museum specified that it had not changed the show since it opened.
Per the Fort Worth Report article, there is no nudity represented in any of the works currently featured in the exhibition. A painting by rafa esparza in the exhibition portrays two men kissing.
The temporary closure was all the more unexpected because the Denver show was met with a positive reception. Carolina A. Miranda praised the show for offering “a striking snapshot of the cowboy at this moment, when our understanding of this archetypal figure is expanding and shifting.” Local press for the Amon Carter show had likewise been laudatory.
Still, some had urged visitors to approach the exhibition with caution. “We do recommend one heed the following warning: This exhibit not only promotes underrepresented perspectives, but it is also critical of the romanticized Marlboro Man aesthetic commonly found in Western art,” wrote Brian Kendall in Fort Worth Magazine. “And, considering the Amon Carter has such depictions in spades on the floor below, this makes for a fascinating juxtaposition.”
Yet, he concluded, “If you come with an open mind, we can’t recommend this exhibit enough.”
