Bureau of Engraving and Printing - 4c Frederic Remington plate proof - August 28, 1961 - Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee Design

This four-colour plate proof, pulled by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in August 1961, reproduces the work of Frederic Remington, one of America's foremost chroniclers of the frontier.

Visual Elements & Composition

The design is a printed proof taken directly from an engraved plate, so its character comes from fine line work and the layered build of colour that a plate produces. Remington's compositions are built around figures set into open, expansive landscapes, and the proof carries that sense of scale and movement. Its printed edges and registration show it was an intermediate check of the image before final production, which gives the piece its documentary quality.

Meaning & Symbolism

Remington's art records a rapidly changing American landscape at the turn of the twentieth century. His cowboys, soldiers and Native American subjects preserved lifestyles that were disappearing and fixed them in the national imagination, shaping the enduring mythology of the West. A plate proof from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing adds another layer: decades after Remington's death, a federal institution was still reproducing his imagery, carrying Western Americana into official printing and public circulation.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A proof is a trial impression, made to check an image before it reaches its final form. On this tee, the image is worn on the body and seen at close range as the wearer moves through the day, so the fine detail of the engraved line stays visible up close. The Remington scene becomes a portable piece of frontier history, with the proof's date and institutional origin printed right into the story.