CINCINNATI, OHIO.- The romance and reality of the American West come to life this winter in the Taft Museum of Art's Fifth Third Gallery. Frontier Memories: 19th- and 20th- Century Art of the American West features paintings, watercolors, and sculptures from an important private collection of American western art. During the 19th century, artists traveled to the western frontier for the same reasons many of us travel-to see new things and to have new experiences. Some were attracted by the West's dramatic landscape and felt the need to record the exotic nature of this strange wilderness. Others wished to observe and document native cultures and wildlife that were quickly disappearing.

By the turn of the 20th century, the "wild" West was gone. The American public developed a taste for art that preserved the West as a symbol of greatness, noble innocence, individuality, and untapped potential. Artists' depictions became nostalgic, depicting scenes of American Indian life in the wilderness when in reality the West had been settled, paved roads crossed the country, and Indians had been confined to reservations.

Works in the exhibition portray westward expansion, scenes from settlers' daily lives, American Indian culture, working cowboys, and sublime landscapes of towering mountains. Artists featured include masters of the American West genre such as Henry Farny, George Catlin, Frederic Remington, Albert Bierstadt, Seth Eastman, Charles Bird King, Thomas Moran, and Charles M. Russell. This exhibition is organized by the Taft Museum of Art; guest curator John Wilson, Ph.D.