The rough-and-tumble icon of the American West is the subject of the newest exhibition at the Great Plains Art Museum.

“Cowboys from the Collection” will run Jan. 16 through April 28, with a special opening reception during Lincoln’s First Friday Art Walk from 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 2, with food and drink.

The exhibition features many iterations of the cowboy, ranging from portraits to action scenes. Photographs by L.A. Huffman, Charles W. Guildner and George Tuck capture working cowboys. Romanticized versions grace canvases by Olaf Wieghorst, Frank Tenney Johnson and Thomas Hart Benton and in bronzes by renowned cowboy artists Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington. Even a cowboy president and a few cowgirls make appearances. In the Wunder Library on the mezzanine level, visitors can browse through the museum’s collection of Western novels.

“Drawing from some key works from the collection, there’s an opportunity to see the various ways in which cowboys have been depicted in art and popular culture over the last century,” said curator Melynda Seaton.

This exhibition was made possible via Humanities Nebraska and with the support of the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.

The Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St., is open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is always free. Free guided tours are available. Please request tours here by completing the form.

Courtesy photo

"Col. Theodore Roosevelt of the 'Rough Riders' after his return from Cuba," Strohmeyer and Wyman, reproduced by Underwood and Underwood, stereoview, circa 1898