187

VERSO
Label, Cowboy Artists of America Museum, Kerrville, Texas
Label, O’Brien’s Art Emporium, Scottsdale, Arizona
Label, San Antonio Museum Association, San Antonio, Texas

Describing this painting the artist wrote, “In 1825 the Ashley and Henry Company abandoned the old idea of using the fixed fort as a base of operations and began the rendezvous system, in which the proprietors of the company with Saint Louis goods met with trappers in the mountains. There they exchanged goods for furs and pelts, renewed or made new contracts, and arranged for the pelts to be taken back to Saint Louis. Also at this time the appointed meeting place for the rendezvous for the coming summer was set.

“Pierre’s Hole, on the west side of the Teton Mountains in what is now Idaho, was a popular site. The Teton River and its tributary streams formed a wide valley rich in grass and water, a perfect spot for a rendezvous. Along these streams in the summer of 1832 members of various Indian tribes, trappers from the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and rival fur companies, and independent trappers had their camps set up and were eager to trade. Here a trader at the rendezvous displays a piece of brightly colored cloth to attract the Indian trade.”

PROVENANCE
Musselman Collection
Red McCombs Collection, San Antonio, Texas

EXHIBITED
The Musselman Collection, Cowboy Artists of America Museum, Kerrville, Texas, 1987

LITERATURE
Walt Reed, John Clymer: An Artist’s Rendezvous with the Frontier West, Northland Press, 1976, p. 54-55, illustrated

Condition ReportSurface is in excellent condition. No signs of restoration.

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