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The Trapper's Cabin, 1858

John Mix Stanley

Several men seem to be debating whose shot brought down this white-tailed deer. One points to the wound on the animal’s side. Despite the painting’s title, these are likely game hunters, not fur trappers. Details that the artist painted over — including the outline of a beaver trap — reveal that he changed his subject while working.

The setting may be Fort Snelling, Minnesota — an area inhabited by Dakota and Ojibwe peoples. The bag hanging on the wall resembles otter skin pouches made by the Native people of this region. John Mix Stanley traveled there in 1839 and would have seen hunters provide meat for the fort. Years later, he painted this canvas in his Washington, DC, studio.

Object Data

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 91.4 × 73.5 cm (36 × 28 15/16 in.)

framed: 127 × 96.2 × 16.5 cm (50 × 37 7/8 × 6 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Gift of William Wilson Corcoran)

Accession Number

2014.79.44

Artists / Makers

John Mix Stanley (artist) American, 1814 - 1872

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Detail Information

Inscription

lower left: J.M. Stanley / 1858

Provenance

Purchased by 1859 by William Wilson Corcoran [1798-1888], Washington; gift 10 May 1869 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

Associated Names

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Corcoran, William Wilson

Exhibition History

1859: Third Annual Exhibition, Washington Art Association, 1859, no. 1.

1916: Loan to display with permanent collection, Louise Home, Washington, 1916-1947.

1944: Exhibition of Paintings by John Mix Stanley (1814-1872), Jane C. Stanley (1863-1940), Alice Stanley Acheson, Natural History Building, U.S. National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1944, no. 19, as The Disputed Shot.

1955: Building the West, Denver Art Museum, 1955, no. 93, as The Disputed Shot.

1958: Shooting and Fishing in Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1958, no. 29, as The Disputed Shot.

1968: The American Panorama - An Exhibition, Denver Art Museum, 1968, unnumbered catalogue, as The Disputed Shot.

1970: Loan to display with permanent collection, National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, 1970-1973.

1976: Corcoran [The American Genius]. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1976, unnumbered catalogue.

1978: The Mountain Man, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, 1978, unnumbered catalogue, as The Disputed Shot.

1981: Of Time and Place: American Figurative Art from the Corcoran Gallery, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Cincinnati Art Museum; San Diego Museum of Art; University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington; Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga; Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Des Moines Art Center; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL, 1981-1983, no. 7, repro., as The Disputed Shot.

1981: The American West: Selections from the Anshutz Collection and the Corcoran Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1981, no. 6, as The Disputed Shot.

1983: The Capital Image: Painters in Washington, 1800-1915, National Museum of American Art, Washington, 1983-1984, unnumbered catalogue, as The Disputed Shot.

1987: American Frontier Life: Early Western Painting and Prints, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1987-1988, unnumbered catalogue, as The Disputed Shot.

1993: The Century Club Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1993, unpublished checklist, as The Disputed Shot.

2004: Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2004-2005, unpublished checklist.

2005: Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 30.

2008: The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, unpublished checklist.

2013: American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013-28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

2015: Painted Journeys: The Art of John Mix Stanley, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody; Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa; Tacoma Art Museum, 2015-2016.

Bibliography

1882: Macleod, William. Catalogue of the Paintings, Statuary, Casts, Bronzes, &c. of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1882: 50, no. 52, as The Disputed Shot.

1887: Macleod, William. Catalogue of the Paintings, Statuary, Casts, Bronzes, &c. of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1887: 52, no. 52, as The Disputed Shot.

1947: Corcoran Gallery of Art. Handbook of the American Paintings in the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1947: 34, as The Disputed Shot.

2011: Strong, Lisa. "John Mix Stanley, The Trappers." In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Edited by Sarah Cash. Washington, 2011: 21, 105, 120-121, 264, repro.