
The
copyrights to Remington's
works extended 75 beyond
their creation and have
long since expired.
After the copyrights expired,
artists began creating
reproductions of his
original works as well as
those inspired by
Remington's illustrations
and created after his death
by other artists.
There have been many limited
edition reproductions and
today several bronze
foundries are creating more
affordable open edition
reproductions.
When shopping
for Remington sculptures
there are a few points to
keep in mind. First,
don't always believe what
you hear or read.
There are only between 25
and 50 original sculptures
from the original molds.
They are museum masterpieces
and worth millions of
dollars. There are art
historians who make it their
life's work to know where
each of the original pieces
are. When one is sold
it is a major event and
usually handled as a private
transaction or sold at
auction by Christy's or
Sotheby's in New York.
Each piece is sold with a
pedigree a mile long tracing
it all the way back to
Remington himself. So,
if you think you have an
original Remington or
someone offers to sell you
one, think long and hard
about what I am telling you.
I have read
descriptions written by
other online bronze dealers
who try to make it seem like
there sculptures are some
how "closer to" an original.
I saw one online dealer who
claims "Our statues
are all reproductions of the
original cast. This means
that all the details of the
original statue is
transferred to the
reproduced one. Our statues
are not copies of copies.
You will not find this type
of reproduction anywhere
else."
There is not
one shred of truth in that
statement. Whoever
wrote that (I'm not going to
mention names) obviously has
no idea how reproductions
are made and is being
completely dishonest when
they say the same statues
are not available anywhere
else. Heck I can name
ten dealers online right now
that are selling the exact
same bronze statues. I
know for a fact that the
person who wrote that knows
this very well, but yet they
find it acceptable to try to
mislead their customers.
I find it completely
unethical and disgraceful.
An original
Remington bronze statue is
worth millions of dollars.
There isn't a museum or
private collector in his/her
right mind that would even
let you get close to an
original with the materials
necessary to take an
impression. However,
for a fee, they will let
artists sit down with the
original in front of them to
recreate the sculpture in
every detail. That
sculpture then becomes a
reproduction original or
foundry original and is used
to make the molds for the
cast reproduction.
Remington never made 6
different sizes of his
sculptures! That was
done by artists working for
foundries that wanted to
cast larger and smaller
versions of the original.
There is nothing wrong with
that because not everyone
can afford or even fit an
original size statue in
their home or office.
Or maybe they want a
super-size version for a
larger space or outdoors.
Again. there is nothing
wrong with that, but these
dealers could at least be
truthful about it.
Now, there
are some low quality
sculptures on the market
that are primarily being
imported from Thailand.
I don't know how they make
their reproductions, but
from what I have seen it
looks like they must be
making them from photographs
because they hardly resemble
the originals at all.
In addition, they are made
from poor quality materials.
My advice is if you have any
doubts don't buy it.
Finally,
there is a term thrown
around that deserves some
discussion and that is "Museum
Quality." We
have used this term before
because our competitors do,
but it is really a
subjective description.
If I had to define it I
would say "A quality level
that would be suitable for a
museum." However, a
true "museum" would never
display a reproduction of a
sculpture. The
Smithsonian has some
reproductions of priceless
historical artifacts, but
that is about all I am aware
of. We use it to
differentiate our sculptures
from inferior imported
sculptures and statues and
like I said because it has
become so common among our
competitors. When we
use the term "museum
quality" we mean a sculpture
that is true to the original
sculpture and cast using
high grade bronze. We
mean a quality level you will
be proud to own, display and
pass down to your family.
So, if you
enjoy the work of Frederic
Remington we invite you to
purchase top quality
reproduction from us.
Our prices are fair and we
stand behind every sale we
make.
Below is a
complete list of Remington's
original statues that we
have available.
To
view our entire Remington
Collection Gallery, click
here.
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