September 4 - October 31, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, September 4, 2026 from 5 - 8 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Denton, TX
PDNB GALLERY is proud to announce its upcoming exhibition, The Last Cowboy Song, bringing together a powerful collection of vintage and contemporary photography, the exhibition examines the enduring visual history, romanticized mythology, and rugged reality of cowboy culture across America.
Spanning nearly a century of imagery, The Last Cowboy Song features legendary high-speed stop-motion studies by M.I.T’s Harold Edgerton, capturing the precise, split-second physics of a rodeo cowgirl standing on a moving horse and a cowboy falling off a bronco, using his famous stroboscope flash. This kinetic energy is complemented by John Stryker’s classic, high-octane rodeo photography, which illustrated the extreme daredevil brawn of cowboy sport.
The American history of the cowboy started with the open range, driving cattle along trails, working cattle on ranches. Later, when the fences and trains appeared on the map the cowboy myth began with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows, Louis Lamour’s stories and then the gun-slinging Western movies from Hollywood.
In the 21st Century, we see Taylor Sheridan producing more vivid cowboy stories in a film trilogy, 1883, 1923, and Yellowstone, about a family settling in rugged 19th Century Montana and later descendants fighting land-grabbing corporate villains.
Cowboy history, illustrated with photography, features 20th Century cowboys working the range, by Adam Jahiel and Bank Langmore. These images capture the quiet dignity, solitary labor and fading traditions of working cowboys remaining in the west.
A photograph from the iconic Mesquite Rodeo outside of Dallas, Texas reveals a group photograph by Neal Slavin, from his Groups in America from the 1970’s.
John Albok’s poignant 1930s images of young boys playing "cowboy" on the urban streets of New York City, demonstrating how deeply the mythos of the West took root in the American imagination.
And a more modern art concept of cowboy culture features two photographs by Patty Carroll from her Anonymous Series of studio scenes of western décor surrounding an obscured cowgirl.
By pairing historic rodeo action with quiet ranch portraits and urban play, The Last Cowboy Song invites viewers to explore how an American icon was forged, mythologized and sustained.
In addition to the photography exhibition a display of vintage cowboy boots, spurs, and folk art will be featured.
Opening Reception: Friday evening, September 4, 2026 from 5 – 8 PM
This is a free event open to the public.
PDNB's opening reception on Friday, September 4th coincides with the Downtown Denton Foundation First Friday celebration of art, music and culture.
For press images: allison@pdnbgallery.com
Additional exhibition information: missy@pdnbgallery.com
