George Caleb Bingham

George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) is recognized today as one of the most important 19th century American artists, distinguished among the first generation of painters of the early American West for his classic narrative scenes drawn from his actual observation and experience.

Bingham’s most famous paintings chronicle America’s westward expansion and depict life along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and the American frontier. His Fur Traders Descending the Missouri (1845, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) is a renowned example of his genre paintings, containing here not only a colorful cast of characters, but layers of implied complexity in its symbolism and socio-political commentary. His paintings portraying fur trappers and traders, riverboatmen, fishermen, politicians and frontier settlers are considered national treasures and today are held in important private and museum collections; notably: National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Wadsworth Atheneum, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, The White House, and many others.

For a more detailed biography of George Caleb Bingham, click here.

We are interested in purchasing paintings and drawings by George Caleb Bingham and we accept consignments of his work. Please contact us for information on paintings, drawings, and occasionally prints, that are available for purchase.

Rachael Cozad Fine Art is the sponsor of the George Caleb Bingham Catalogue Raisonné Supplement of Paintings and Drawings, currently in progress.