HOLDREGE — The Museum of Nebraska Art may be closed for two years, but spectacular works of art depicting the Midland plains are still to be found in southcentral Nebraska at the Nebraska Prairie Museum in Holdrege.
The museum, which holds a vast collection of farm machinery, taxidermied wild animals, and the Atlanta World War II Prisoner of War Camp Memorial, is home this summer to a beautiful new exhibit featuring more than fifty works of two dimensional and sculptural art by the most renowned artists in America.
The extensive display, titled “Palette of the Prairie: A History of the American West in Art” portrays two and a half centuries of the western plains as seen through the eyes of such internationally legendary artists as Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, and Albert Bierstadt. It also focuses, however, on Nebraska artists who gained great acclaim in galleries and museums throughout the country including Michael Hagel, Todd Williams, Herb Mignery, and Holdrege’s own, George Lundeen.
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Hagel is the brother of former Senator, Chuck Hagel, Williams was the official artist of the Nebraska Sesquicentennial celebration, and Lundeen’s folksy renditions in bronze of the ideal American life, is mounted in museums and parklands from coast to coast.
As comprehensive as it is colorful, the pieces are selections from the collection of David Wendell, a historian whose family roots trace back more than a century and a half in Nebraska history.
On his father’s side, the family settled on a farmstead southwest of Minden and his mother’s ancestors farmed and ranched near Axtell, and later, Holdrege. Wendell, himself, moved to Iowa, Chicago, and Washington D.C, but considers the exhibit to be a homecoming. “I spent much of the summer every year of my childhood in southcentral Nebraska,” Wendell proudly announces, “the stories told to me by my great grandparents, grandparents, and elders, are all allegorically seen in this artwork, a life I envied and admired, but only got a taste of through them,” he says.
The images on canvas and in bronze help to bring it to life for him and preserve it for future generations. That’s one of the whole reasons he amassed the collection. Having spent much time in the Midlands, he saw personally the remnants of the “wild west,” but it was the archives and art museums of Chicago and Washington D.C. that enabled him to learn about the artists who had depicted that history and lifestyle from the days of the American Indian on the open prairies to the ranchers of today. “Not everyone has the chance to visit these larger galleries across the nation,” Wendell explains, “so I wanted to bring the best of them to Nebraska, and I believe this introduces the culture and aesthetics to all who will view it.”
He is especially pleased, if they aren’t already familiar with it, to bring forward the work of native Nebraskans whose talents, he asserts, equal those of the iconic masters of the 19th century. Lundeen is one. “My aunt went to school with him,” says Wendell, “and my cousin is married to (sculptor) Herb Mignery’s son.”
That may make him a little partial perhaps, however, he is quick to point out that each is a perfectionist in capturing the details of both animals, ranchers, and, in particular, children. “Their masterpieces are in the best of gardens and museums everywhere,” he explains, “and now add the Nebraska Prairie Museum to that list.”
The Nebraska Prairie Museum is located at 2701 N. Burlington Ave. in Holdrege, and is open weekdays from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and 1-5 p.m. on weekends. “Palette of the Prairie: A History of the American West in Art” is free as well as admission to the museum, but donations are accepted.