While William F. Buffalo Bill Cody loved the wild, untamed lands of the American West, he also encouraged the growth of civilization and culture in Cody, Wyoming. To this day, art and design flourish in the Cody region.
Buffalo Bill (1846-1917), became a well-known western frontiersman and scout in the 1870s. Based on his knowledge and experience of the West, he created "Buffalo Bill's Wild West," an extravagant live performance featuring the famous characters, animals and action of the western United States. His "Wild West" shows toured in America and Europe through the late 1800s and early 1900s, introducing people from across the world to the excitement of the West. As a result of his world tours, Buffalo Bill became one of the most famous people in the world by the early 1900s.
Buffalo Bill loved the mountains of northwest Wyoming, and in the 1890s he helped found the town of Cody. He purchased land near Cody, started the Cody Enterprise newspaper, and convinced the Burlington Railroad to build a spur to Cody so travelers could easily reach the new town. To accommodate travelers on their way to Yellowstone National Park, Buffalo Bill opened the Irma Hotel in 1902.
To create a luxurious, comfortable hotel in the middle of northern Wyoming was no small task, and Buffalo Bill used a combination of local materials and imported goods. The most striking feature of the new Irma Hotel was the stunning cherrywood bar, complete with a carved buffalo head adorning the top. According to local legend, the cherrywood bar was a gift to Buffalo Bill from Queen Victoria of England. Indeed, Buffalo Bill had greatly impressed the Queen when he brought the "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show to England in 1887. However, Buffalo Bill most likely purchased the bar as he traveled through France a few years later. The immense cherrywood bar traveled from France across the Atlantic Ocean and through the United States to reach the Irma Hotel—bringing a small piece of European culture to Cody, Wyoming. The cherrywood bar can still be seen in the Irma Hotel, where it remains part of the main dining room.
Once the Irma Hotel was complete, Buffalo Bill decorated the interior with a variety of paintings – many by artists who were his personal friends. Of all the artists who knew Buffalo Bill, Astley David M. Cooper (1856-1924) was perhaps the most colorful character. While Cooper was a talented artist, his chronic alcoholism affected both his art career and his health. To pay for his drinking habit, Cooper dashed off quick paintings of nudes to cover his bills in local bars. However, risqué saloon paintings aside, Cooper was capable of creating a masterpiece.
Buffalo Bill possibly met Cooper in 1902, when "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" performed in San Jose, California, where Cooper lived. Buffalo Bill purchased four paintings by Cooper, including Relics of the Past, a still-life painting depicting a buffalo head, Native American artifacts and photographs nailed to a wall. This style of painting is often called a "trompe l'oeil" or "fool the eye." The artist sought to create the illusion that real photographs and artifacts were nailed to the wall. Centered above the buffalo head in the painting is a prominent photograph of Buffalo Bill himself. After the painting was finished around 1905, it hung for years at the head of the stairs in the Irma Hotel. Today, the painting can be seen in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center here in Cody, where it is one of the highlights of the Whitney Gallery of Western Art.
After Buffalo Bill's death in 1917, many people across the nation wished to construct a monument to the legendary western showman. The Wyoming legislature approved funds for a monument in 1921, and the newly-formed Buffalo Bill Memorial Association began looking for a suitable artist to create a public monument. Mary Jester Allen, Buffalo Bill's niece, approached the sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney at her studio in New York City, to ask if she could create a commemorative statue of Buffalo Bill. Whitney, a talented sculptor and wealthy heiress, eagerly agreed to the project. To create the statue, she studied photographs of Buffalo Bill and cowboys on horseback. She first created a small, plaster model of her final sculpture to show the townspeople of Cody. In the model, Whitney depicted Buffalo Bill from his days as a scout for the United States Army – looking down at a trail, and holding his '73 Winchester rifle in the air to signal troops to follow. However, the people of Cody were not satisfied with Whitney's original model. The horse, they said, looked too "eastern," unlike the horses found in the plains of Wyoming. To show Whitney a proper "western" horse, the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association sent a Wyoming ranch horse and two genuine cowboys to New York City. The cowboys rode the ranch horse through Central Park in New York for Whitney's observation.
Whitney made small changes to her original model and finished the final, bronze sculpture in 1924, titled Buffalo Bill – The Scout. The bronze sculpture – over twelve feet high – arrived in Cody by train. Forgetting their former criticism, townspeople declared the statue a masterpiece, a fitting monument to the memory of Buffalo Bill. In addition to creating the statue, Whitney also generously donated the land where the statue is located. Most notably, Buffalo Bill – The Scout was one of the first monumental public sculptures designed by a female artist in the United States. Today, the statue has become a symbol of the western spirit embodied by Buffalo Bill, and a fitting emblem for the town of Cody.
Through his life and beyond, Buffalo Bill encouraged the growth of arts and culture in Cody, Wyoming. Today, a love of the arts continues to flourish in Cody through the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, in the numerous art galleries in town, and through the many artists who make their home in Cody. n
With a love of art and American history, Laura Fry moved to Cody a year ago to work in the curating department of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. While she hails from the Midwest, Laura loves the Wyoming mountains and works as a ski instructor on weekends throughout the winter.
