Whitney Western Art Museum's Peter Hassrick Public Program Series Features Renowned Art Director Thomas Brent Smith

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Thomas brent Smith, the Wylodean and Bill Saxon Director of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma.

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West located in Cody, Wyoming

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Explore James Bama's Portraits with Insight from the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Director on July 9th at the Center of the West.

CODY, WYOMING, UNITED STATES , June 11, 2024 /EINPresswire / -- The Whitney Western Art Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is excited to announce a special Peter Hassrick Public Program , free to the public, on Tuesday, July 9 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Center's Coe Auditorium. There will be time for Q&A at the end of the program.

Presenter Thomas Brent Smith is the Wylodean and Bill Saxon Director of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. This represents a homecoming of sorts. Smith was a Fellow in the McCracken Research Library in 2005, researching the art of James Bama, the subject of his Master thesis. He recorded five interviews with Bama and got to know him both as a scholar and friend.

James Bama's Photographs: An Essential Tool

An artist known for his realism, James Bama used photography as an essential tool. His photography practice, however, went well beyond delineation. It became a way for the artist to engage, create, and carefully deliberate over what became his finished works. Bama's camera gave him an entrée to engage with people who on the surface were dissimilar to Bama, the New York illustrator who went West. The gregarious artist captured images of a wide cross section of people in the Mountain West, some of whom became subjects for his paintings. Among Bama's most timely and compelling photographs and paintings are a group of works coinciding with the rise of the American Indian Movement. The series captures an important political moment while also acknowledging the painter's rich artistic influences from photographers Edward S. Curtis to Richard Avedon and the Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art movements.

More about Thomas Brent Smith

Since joining the Fred Jones Museum in 2021, Smith has led the organization's new strategic plan focused on financial stability, community engagement, and organization health. Previously he spent thirteen years as director of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum. In this role, he led the Petrie Institute to unprecedented growth and national stature by spearheading a $7 million endowment campaign and transforming the institute's holdings by acquiring multiple important collections, including one of the most valuable gifts of art in the museum's history.

During his tenure at the Denver Art Museum, Smith became known as a curator of innovative exhibitions with wide community appeal and positive critical response. He initiated an ambitious track of exhibitions, publications, and programs, including "The American West in Bronze: 1850-1925" with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and "The Western: An Epic in Art and Film" with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts among others.

Smith has been a fellow of The Getty Leadership Institute and is a past president of the Museums West Consortium.

About the Series

Peter Hassrick was one of America's foremost scholar-authors on western American art. The Peter Hassrick Public Program Series perpetuates his passion for innovative and creative public programming through the Whitney Western Art Museum.

About the Buffalo Bill Center of the West

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West, located in Cody, Wyoming, is a world-renowned Smithsonian Affiliate dedicated to connecting people to the American West. The Center houses five unique museums under one roof -the Buffalo Bill Museum, Whitney Western Art Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, and Cody Firearms Museum- celebrating history, culture, art, natural science, and more, and offers a range of immersive experiences including chuckwagon dinners, live raptors, special events, and customized exclusive tours. With its diverse collections, the Center serves as a focal point for exploration, discovery, and hands-on education.

Ken Straniere, PR/Marketing Manager
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
+1 307-578-4137
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