Sculpture is featured prominently in both the museum galleries and on the beautiful grounds

Sculpture

1776 - 1800

American

American Revolution (event)

Bust

Classical influence

colonial

commander-in-chief of the Continental army

confident

cream

eyeballs

farmer

founding father

general

General George Washington

general in the Continental army

George Washington

hairstyles

long hair

looking up

male

marble

musculature

politician

portrait

post-Hadrianic influence

president

President George Washington

President of the United States

Roman influence

staring

stoic

thinking

Virginia

white

Marble Sculpture

Jean-Antoine Houdon

{"DisplayOrder":"1","Title":"George Washington"}

Cite this Page

About the Creator

Art Item Information

Marks and Inscriptions

1876 - 1900

bronze

busts

sculpture

Bronze Sculpture

Daniel Chester French

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was a prominent American writer, speaker, and poet. Emerson was a leader of the Transcendentalist movement, a philosophy emphasizing the inherent goodness of nature and of individual people. Educated at Harvard, Emerson was a gifted speaker and became a prominent voice in America’s literary scene, influencing leading scholars and thinkers of his day. He opposed Indian removal. 

From the exhibition: After Removal: Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation, August 25, 2017 - January 21, 2018.
Curated by Dr. Duane King & Dr. Natalie Panther, 2017.

{"DisplayOrder":"1","Title":"Emerson (Ralph Waldo)"}

Emerson (Ralph Waldo)

French, Daniel Chester

1901 - 1925

Animals

artillery

beard

boots

bronzes

chaps

cowboy boots

cowboy hats

cowboys

excitement

Friends

galloping

gloves

guns

hats

horseback riding

horses (species)

motion

moustaches

mustaches

running

saddles

Shooting

short hair

shouting (activity)

smile

smiling

stirrups

whips

yelling

Frederic Remington

{"DisplayOrder":"1","Title":"Coming through the Rye (Off the Range)"}

modeled 1902; lost-wax cast 20th century | lost-wax cast in bronze

Coming through the Rye (Off the Range)

Remington, Frederic

bow ties

neckties

presidents

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

{"DisplayOrder":"1","Title":"Abraham Lincoln"}

Abraham Lincoln

Animal

belt

breechcloth

Cheyenne

feather

horse (species)

mocassins

moccasins

Native American

reins (animal equipment)

shoes

spear

Roman Bronze Works

Riccardo Bertelli of the Roman Bronze Works once said that Remington “always wanted to have his horses with all four feet off the ground.” Here, he succeeded. After the first eight casts were made at Roman Bronze Works, Remington changed the plaster model by lowering the shield and adding feathers; he reduced the size of the base and simplified it to save in production costs and this posthumous cast reflects those changes. The bases of The Cheyenne bronzes were cast as part of the sculptures unlike earlier Remington subjects for which bases had been cast separately and joined after casting.

From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.

[{"DisplayOrder":"1","Title":"The Cheyenne"},{"DisplayOrder":"2","Title":"The Cheyenne Warrior"}]

modeled 1901; lost-wax cast 1913 | lost-wax cast in bronze

The Cheyenne

authors

co-author of the Federalist papers

delegate of the Continental Congress

delegates

ears

eyes

faces

founding fathers

Greek influence

lieutenant-colonel in the Continental Army

lips

nose

portraits

pre-Hadrianic influence

robes

scowl

sculpture-in-the-round

sculptures

statues

wrinkles

Giuseppe Ceracchi

{"DisplayOrder":"1","Title":"Alexander Hamilton"}

Alexander Hamilton

bridle

buttons

cold

cowboy

cowboy hat

elements

footwear

fringe

holster

inscription

jacket

lasso

letters (signs)

looking

looking down

observing

pants

rifle

rope

saddle

scarf

sculpture in the round

signatures (names)

spurs (accessories worn)

standing

tail (animal component)

travel

Traveling

trousers

wind

windy

It is difficult today to appreciate fully the excitement and novelty of Remington’s early work. His first sculpture, The Bronco Buster (0827.33, 0827.34), was a national sensation. Although not the first American sculpture of a cowboy, it was the first to depict a cowboy as action figure in bronze. The daring two-legged stance of the rearing horse, also considered a great technical accomplishment, had been first achieved by sand casting. Remington went on to sculpt seven other cowboy-themed works. The least popular, The Norther (0827.39), was the only one of his cowboy sculptures to depict the horse with all four feet on the ground, literally frozen in place. This actionless antihero was a marketplace flop from its inception, although it is now considered one of Remington’s finest works.

From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.

{"DisplayOrder":"1","Title":"The Norther"}

modeled 1900; lost-wax cast circa 1900 | lost-wax cast in bronze

The Norther

baskets

blankets

concentrating

concentration

creating (artistic activity)

dresses

English (language)

fabrics

females

focusing

folds

headscarf

inscriptions

rocks

shawls

shirts

Sitting

Tlingit

Tlingit Indians

wearing blankets

weavers

weaving

women

words

working

woven

Louis Potter

The women depicted in this work were members of the Tlingit tribe whom Potter sculpted on his 1904 trip to Alaska. In 1905, Gorham bought the rights of reproduction for this work and 17 other sculptures made on that trip. Although marked by the Gorham foundry, the bronze interior shows all indications of an Italian-style lost-wax cast—white investment residue and drips and bubbles from the molten wax now preserved in bronze. This complex work of three figures appears to be cast in one piece and is a tour de force of bronze casting. Documentation exists that Gorham subcontracted lost-wax casting as early as 1905 to the Roman Bronze Works. It is likely that Gorham recognized this complex surface could be more economically cast by lost wax and could have been an impetus to establish its own short-lived lost-wax facility in 1906.

From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.

{"DisplayOrder":"1","Title":"Basket Weavers"}

modeled 1905; lost-wax cast circa 1905 | lost-wax cast in bronze

Basket Weavers

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