Lonesome Dove: The Exhibition

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July 19 through August 25, 2024

Lonesome Dove, a new traveling exhibition created by The Wittliff Collections at the Alkek Library, Texas State University, and presented in partnership with Humanities Texas will be on display at The Bryan Museum starting January 26, 2024.

Lonesome Dove—Larry McMurtry’s epic novel of two aging Texas Rangers who drive a herd of stolen cattle 2,500 miles from the Rio Grande to Montana to found the first ranch there—captured the public imagination and has never let it go. The Lonesome Dove miniseries, which first aired on CBS in 1989, lassoed an even wider audience.

Capturing the sweeping visual imagery of the original miniseries, the Lonesome Dove exhibition presents classic images taken during filming by Bill Wittliff, renowned photographer, writer, and executive producer (with Suzanne De Passe) of Lonesome Dove. The images, however, are worlds apart from ordinary production stills, depicting an extraordinary union of art, literature, and history.

Gus and Call on the Mesa, © 1988, Bill Wittliff. The Lonesome Dove miniseries stars Robert Duvall as Augustus McCrae and Tommy Lee Jones as Woodrow Call. The Oscar-winning actors portray aging Texas Rangers who lead an epic cattle drive from Texas to Montana in the late 1800s.