Building on the foundations of the Bradford Brinton Memorial collection, The Brinton Museum is now home to an extensive collection of works by celebrated artists of the American West.  The Ted and Katie Meredith Gallery of Western Art presents key examples of nearly two centuries of western landscapes, portraits, and scenes of everyday life. Art will rotate periodically, drawing from the museum’s holdings of works by Hans Kleiber, Winold Reiss, Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, Bill Gollings, and many others. The Ted and Katie Meredith Gallery of Western Art brings together the best original pieces collected by Bradford Brinton augmented by valuable acquisitions that all tell essential stories about life out West.

History of the Collection

Starting in the early 1900s, Bradford Brinton began assembling an extensive fine art collection featuring works by his favorite Western artists, including Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, Edward Borein, Winold Reiss and Frank Tenney Johnson. The Brinton Museum has added works by Bradford Brinton’s favorite artists, including Borein, Hans Kleiber, and Bill Gollings while also adding important names in the history of Western Art, including John Mix Stanley, Thomas Moran, and Joseph Henry Sharp.  Through careful preservation and discriminating acquisition of new pieces, The Brinton Museum is honoring its founder’s vision and the art and craftsmanship of the region.

The Ranch House Collection

The Bradford Brinton Memorial Collection reflects Mr. Brinton’s eclectic taste.  He developed a 5,000 volume library including Rex Brasher’s “Birds and Trees of North America,” John James Audubon’s 7 volume quarto edition set of “The Birds of North America.” Historic documents by Washington and William Penn, as well as letters by Abraham Lincoln, John James Audubon and Thornton Wilder augment the collection. Period furnishings from the original owners, William and Edith Moncreiffe, along with fine pieces added by Bradford Brinton including a library nook, gun cabinet, 1926 Steinway Duo-Art grand player piano, and Bradford’s exquisite English and early American dining room set originally housed in his New York Park Avenue apartment are part of the Bradford Brinton Memorial Collection. Most of these pieces are on display, in their original setting, in the Brinton Ranch House.  Some original works of Western Art are on display in the historic ranch house while the majority are rotated and shared with the public in galleries throughout the Forrest E. Mars, Jr. Building.