cover image Frederic Remington

Frederic Remington

Atwood Manley, Margaret M. Mangum. Dutton Books, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-525-24647-3

This splendid biography, written by a father/daughter team of journalists, portrays the ``artist of the West'' as a man with decidedly Eastern roots, roots which influenced and nurtured his work to an extent not realized by Remington's previous biographers. Remington (1861-1909) was a man of large appetites who halfheartedly fought a losing battle with his waistline and who was prone to bouts of heavy drinking followed by periods of complete abstinence. After a pampered childhood, an academic career distinguished only by its brevity and several failed business ventures, Remington quickly built a solid market for the sketches which established his reputation. This economic base afforded him the freedom to begin producing his now world-famous bronzes and, toward the end of his life, to work with color. The authors are the first Remington biographers to have access to his wife's diaries, allowing them not only to portray the artist more fully, but also to present Eva Remington as a determined and independent individual who influenced her husband to a greater degree than previously supposed. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)