In less than five years, the Denver Art Museum has gone from largely ignoring Western American art to becoming a major player in the field.
It took another significant step forward Wednesday with the announcement that Peter Hassrick, 64, has been appointed director of the museum’s 4-year-old Institute of Western American Art. He will begin his duties in mid-June.
“The Denver Art Museum seems to be at a watershed moment in its history, in terms of fully recognizing the significance of this kind of art,” Hassrick said from his home in Cody, Wyo.
Rick Stewart, director of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, also was enthused.
“That’s great news for Denver,” he said. “He’s probably, if not the leading person in the United States on Western American art, one of the top people.”
Hassrick, who earned his master of fine arts degree from the University of Denver in 1969, was a curator at the Amon Carter Museum before serving in 1976 to 1996 as director of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody.
He later founded the Charles M. Russell Center at the University of Oklahoma and has most recently been an independent scholar and consultant.
He is one of the leading authorities on Frederic Remington, serving as co-author of a 1996 two-volume catalogue raisonné – a comprehensive compendium – of the artist’s works and co-curating in 1988-89 a pivotal touring exhibition titled “Frederic Remington: The Masterworks.”
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
