How the West was seen

For most of its history, the Denver Art Museum paid scant attention to Western art. But since the 2001 establishment of a curatorial department focused on the field, it has quickly become an emphasis of the institution. The latest and most dramatic evidence came with Saturday's opening of nine handsomely renovated galleries on the seventh floor of the museum's original 1971 building — all devoted to historical Western art. On view are 132 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and decorative objects, including examples by such famed artists as Thomas Hart Benton, Albert Bierstadt, Charles Deas, Thomas Eakins, Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. Between these new galleries and existing space on the second floor of the Hamilton Building (the museum's 2006 addition), about 16,300 square feet is now set aside for Western art, bringing the area closer in size to the museum's larger and older departments...Denver Post