A Kansas Ranch, Robert Swain Gifford

Artwork Overview

A Kansas Ranch, Robert Swain Gifford
A Kansas Ranch, Robert Swain Gifford
Robert Swain Gifford
A Kansas Ranch
1888
Robert Swain Gifford, artist
1840–1905
A Kansas Ranch, 1888
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: canvas; oil
Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 54.6 x 90.2 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 21 1/2 x 35 1/2 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 35 1/16 x 49 in
Credit line: Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund
Accession number: 2003.0111
Not on display
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Images

Label texts

Spencer Kids: Animal Tails (with audio descriptions)

What kind of movement do you see in this painting? Try making a calm motion with your hand that shows what this painting feels like. Where are the animals in this painting? What are they doing?

About the art
This artist called this painting “A Kansas Ranch,” even though he had never visited the state of Kansas. He used his imagination and his experiences in other Midwestern states to paint this work.

About the animals
Sheep have 300-degree vision, which means that they can see behind them without turning their heads!

Click the link below to see a photograph of a flock of sheep similar to this one.

Spencer Kids: Animal Tails (with audio descriptions)

What kind of movement do you see in this painting? Try making a calm motion with your hand that shows what this painting feels like. Where are the animals in this painting? What are they doing?

About the art
This artist called this painting “A Kansas Ranch,” even though he had never visited the state of Kansas. He used his imagination and his experiences in other Midwestern states to paint this picture.

About the animals
Sheep have 300-degree vision, which means that they can see behind them without turning their heads!

Tap the Web icon to see a flock of sheep similar to this one.

This Land

Sheep ranching may not be synonymous with Kansas today, but in the first half of the 1880s the population of sheep exceeded that of humans in this state. After the Blizzard of 1886, the industry changed, closing the open range and greatly reducing the number of sheep ranches. Most often considered a New England painter, Gifford presumably derived this composition from memories of travels through the Great Plains, although the artist never passed through Kansas on his railroad journeys to the West.

This Land

Sheep-ranching may not be synonymous with Kansas today, but in the first half of the 1880s the population of sheep exceeded that of humans in this state. After the “Great Blizzard” of 1886, the industry changed, closing the open range and greatly reducing the number of sheep ranches. Most often considered a New England painter, Gifford presumably derived this composition from memories of travels through the Great Plains, although the artist never passed through Kansas on his railroad journeys to the West.

Exhibition Label:
"This Land," Mar-2014, Kate Meyer
Sheep-ranching may not be synonymous with Kansas today, but in the first half of the 1880s the population of sheep exceeded that of humans in this state. After the “Great Blizzard” of 1886, the industry changed, closing the open range and greatly reducing the number of sheep ranches. Most often considered a New England painter, Gifford presumably derived this composition from memories of travels through the Great Plains, although the artist never passed through Kansas on his railroad journeys to the West.

Exhibition Label:
"A Kansas Arts Sampler," Oct-2004, Kate Meyer
Sheep ranching may not be synonymous with Kansas today, but in the first half of the 1880s the population of sheep exceeded that of humans in this state. After “The Great Blizzard” of 1886, the industry changed, closing the open range and greatly reducing the number of sheep ranches. Most often considered a New England painter, Gifford likely depicts the ranchland near a Kansas railroad stop on one of his many visits to the west.

Exhibitions

New Acquisitions (Fall 2003)
2003
A Kansas Art Sampler
Kate Meyer, curator
2004–2005
This Land
Kate Meyer, curator
2014–2015
Teaching Gallery: Kansas Art and Popular Culture
2011
This Land
Kate Meyer, curator
2016–2021
Spencer Kids: Animal Tails (with audio descriptions)
2018
Spencer Kids: Animal Tails (with audio descriptions)
2020

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 227. I’m David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. Robert Swain Gifford painted A Kansas Ranch in 1888. In the foreground of this three-foot-wide painting, a shepherd and his dog pause in a rolling landscape rich with warm autumn colors. Beyond them, a flock of sheep leads our eye into the distance where smoke rises from ranch buildings and merges with the cloudy sky. Thick brushstrokes mask detail and unify the painted surface. Gifford seems to have captured the essence of the local landscape, yet surprisingly the New York-based artist never visited Kansas. The closest he came was Nebraska, nearly twenty years earlier, as he journeyed cross-country on the new transcontinental railroad. Aside from personal experience, other sources may have inspired Gifford: fellow artist’s images of the plains; promotional material aimed at settlers and tourists; political and social issues connected with Kansas; or poetry and popular literature. Combining the real and imagined, Gifford’s idyllic scene of man and animal in tune with nature conveys a sense of place. With thanks to Mindy Besaw for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.
Audio Tour – Bulldog Art Tour
Audio Tour – Bulldog Art Tour
Listen to core object information.
Audio Description
Listen to core object information.
Audio Description
Robert Swain Gifford, A Kansas Ranch (2003.0111) The artist is Robert Swain Gifford, born 1840 in Naushon Island, Massachusetts, died 1905 New York, New York. The title of the work is A Kansas Ranch, created in 1888. The work was made with oil on canvas.
Listen to Audio Description
Audio Description
Listen to Audio Description
Audio Description
The painting Kansas Ranch gives a sweeping impression of a Kansas prairie where shepherd watches a herd of sheep. The painting is a little less than two feet tall and three feet wide. Under a mostly cloudy sky, the shepherd leans on his staff facing away from us, toward a large flock of sheep that is clustered along a hillside. A dog sits beside the shepherd, and there is another shepherd some distance away. Although the figure in his dark coat is a point that draws our attention, the painting is dominated by its sweeping landscape. Behind the shepherd and his sheep, dry, dull grasses grow on rolling hills in yellow, brown, and orange, as if it were late fall or winter. Low clouds cast grey shadows across the hill.
Listen to Label Text
Audio Description
Listen to Label Text
Audio Description
Sheep ranching may not be synonymous with Kansas today, but in the first half of the 1880s the population of sheep exceeded that of humans in this state. After the Blizzard of 1886, the industry changed, closing the open range and greatly reducing the number of sheep ranches. Most often considered a New England painter, Gifford presumably derived this composition from memories of travels through the Great Plains, although the artist never passed through Kansas on his railroad journeys to the West.
Listen to App Text
Audio Description
Listen to App Text
Audio Description
What kind of movement do you see in this painting? Try making a calm motion with your hand that shows what this painting feels like. Where are the animals in this painting? What are they doing? About the art This artist called this painting “A Kansas Ranch,” even though he had never visited the state of Kansas. He used his imagination and his experiences in other Midwestern states to paint this picture. About the animals Sheep have 300-degree vision, which means that they can see behind them without turning their heads!

Links

See a photo of a herd of sheep similar to this one