Past Exhibition: National Geographic Photos

Past Exhibition:

National Geographic Greatest Photographs of the American West

October 27, 2012 – August 11, 2013

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West was honored to host a special exhibition of stunning photography, National Geographic Greatest Photographs of the American West, a collection of iconic western images gathered by National Geographic over a span of some 125 years. The exhibition was organized by the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in collaboration with the National Geographic Society.

“It was been a rewarding experience to collaborate with the National Museum of Wildlife Art and other western museums across the country and we were thrilled to host the exhibition,” said Mindy Besaw, Curator of the Whitney Western Art Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. “This exhibition was not to be missed—a great opportunity to view seventy-five of the most stunning and engaging photos of the American West.”

The exhibition opened simultaneously in ten museums across the United States: Booth Western Art Museum (Cartersville, Georgia), Buffalo Bill Historical Center—now the Buffalo Bill Center of the West (Cody, Wyoming), Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art (Indianapolis, Indiana), Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa, Oklahoma), National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), National Geographic Museum (Washington, D.C.), National Museum of Wildlife Art (Jackson Hole, Wyoming), Rockwell Museum of Western Art (Corning, New York), C.M. Russell Museum (Great Falls, Montana), and Stark Museum of Art (Orange, Texas).

According to James McNutt, President and CEO of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, “National Geographic Greatest Photographs of the American West represented the first time a photography exhibition of this magnitude opened at so many U.S. venues simultaneously,” McNutt was also one of the exhibition organizers and a contributor to an accompanying book. He continues, “The exhibition presented a powerful and nuanced portrait of the West over more than a century, and it’s exciting that the medium of photography allowed multiple openings across the country for greater impact in sharing the combined vision of such an important group of photographers.”

National Geographic Greatest Photographs of the American West closed its run at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West on August 11, 2013.

The exhibition wss generously sponsored by the Mays Family Foundation. Organized by the National Museum of Wildlife Art in collaboration with the National Geographic Society and Museums West, a consortium of thirteen of the largest and most important western art museums in the country.