Stark Pistols Exhibit

Stark Museum of Art exhibit highlights embellished firearms

ORANGE — Fifty magnificently embellished and historically important American firearms will be displayed at the Stark Museum of Art in a special exhibition “Pistols: Dazzling Firearms” on view through October 24.

“Pistols: Dazzling Firearms” was organized by the Museum of the American West, Autry National Center, Los Angeles.

The exhibition features pistols selected for their extraordinary quality, condition, and elegance. The works come primarily from the permanent collection of the Autry National Center of the American West, supplemented with loans from private collections.

“Pistols: Dazzling Firearms” illustrates how art, historical events, and popular culture have influenced the design and symbolism of decorative weaponry.

Highlights include a Colt Model 1862 revolver that presents an early, rare example of Tiffany-style grips embellished with an American eagle motif and revealing master craftsmanship. The exhibition also features Wild Bill Hickok’s Model 1851 Navy revolver, Annie Oakley’s Smith and Wesson pistols, and six presidential guns designed by the Colt company, including one designed for John F. Kennedy. A silver Colt Single Action Army revolver engraved by Edward Bohlin for cowboy actor Tom Mix introduces the Hollywood era. A unique pair of Colt revolvers with nautical motifs, made for a former chairman of Colt Industries, combines the talents of the twentieth-century Tiffany and Co. as designer, and Leonard Francolini as engraver.

The exhibition explores the political, social, and historical aspects of the decorative pistols; the influence of iconic Western painting; and the artistic talent of firearms engravers. “Firearms become decorative art when adorned by master engravers,” said Julia Logan-Bourbois, Assistant Curator for Arms and Armor, Museum of the American West, Autry National Center, and curator of the exhibition.

“Pistols: Dazzling Firearms” includes plasma screen installations with filmed highlights of the firearms and of the engraving process. An educational area adjacent to the exhibition provides learning activities related to the exhibition. “We invite the public to enjoy artistic beauty in a different medium, that of firearms engraving, while seeing the historic and thematic connections with our permanent collection of Western American paintings, sculpture and prints,” said Sarah Boehme, Stark Museum of Art Director.

Located at 712 Green Avenue in Orange, the Stark Museum of Art is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free. Group tours are available by appointment.

For more information call 409-886-ARTS (2787) or visit www.starkmuseum.org.

(Left) A Colt, Model 1862 Police and Pocket Conversion Revolver, ca. 1862.

(Above) A Colt, Single Action Army Revolver, ca. 1980. Rendered by Tiffany & Co. and Leonard Francolini.

Images courtesy of the Museum of the American West, Autry National Center, Los Angeles, California.