For over a century the majority of Americas major sculptors chose the Roman Bronze Works foundry to cast their works in bronze. Its castings represent a vast and fascinating collection of sculptures, from artists including French, Saint-Gaudens, Remington, Russell, Manship, Vonnoh, Archipenko, Calder, and many more. Over 700 photographic examples (many in color) and biographical information on over 120 sculptors make up this book, the first to examine R.B.W.s role in American art.

Carol C. Mattusch discusses the dating of bronzes based on criteria of technique and style, and considers technical innovations in the art of portraiture. Most controversially, she offers evidence that Greek artists cast bronzes in series based on a single model.

Themes of the American West have been enduringly popular, and 'The American West in Bronze' features sixty-five iconic bronzes that display a range of subjects, from portrayals of the noble Indian to rough-and-tumble scenes of rowdy cowboys to tributes to the pioneers who settled the lands west of the Mississippi. Fascinating texts offer a fresh look at the roles that artists played in creating interpretations of the "vanishing West"--Whether based on fact, fiction or something in-between. These artists, including Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington, embody a range of life experiences and artistic approaches."'The American West in Bronze, 1850-1925' is the first full-scale exhibition to explore the aesthetic and cultural impulses behind the creation of statuettes with American western themes, which have been so popular with audiences then and now. Both the exhibition and this accompanying catalogue offer a fresh look at the multifaceted roles played by these sculptors in creating three-dimensional interpretations of western life, whether based on historical fact, mythologized fiction, or most often, something in-between. Examples by such archetypal representatives of the West as Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are complemented by the work of sculptors such as James Earle Fraser and Paul Manship, who contributed to the popularity of the American bronze statuette even though their western subjects were less frequent."--Publisher's description.

One of the world's leading authorities on ancient bronze sculpture, Carol C. Mattusch urges us to discard the terms "Greek original" and "Roman copy" and to adopt instead terms that distinguish unique works from those produced in series and those produced as variations on a theme. She discusses the dating of bronzes based on criteria of technique and style, and considers technical innovations in the art of portraiture. Most controversially, she offers evidence that Greek artists cast bronzes in series based on a single model. Mattusch points out that examples of series castings can be found among the statuettes and vessel attachments from the Geometric and Orientalizing periods. From the Classical period onward, statues also appear to have been cast in series. Certain styles and types of images that achieved widespread popularity during the Hellenistic and Roman periods were produced in large quantities and in several different places. This book will raise important new questions in the field of Classical bronze sculpture. How long might a single model remain in use and how far might casts from it be transported for production? What is the significance of an artist's signature on a work in a series and what influence was wielded by the potential buyer? And, given these issues, what should the criteria be for distinguishing Greek works from Roman ones? Classical Bronzes is generously illustrated, including an eight-page color insert.