The Trapper's Cabin
1858
Artist, American, 1814 - 1872
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.
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 71
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
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.) -
Accession
2014.79.44
Artwork history & notes
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
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.
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, no. 163, repro.
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.
Inscriptions
lower left: J.M. Stanley / 1858
Wikidata ID
Q20188403