Appeal to the Great Spirit
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| Artist | Cyrus Edwin Dallin |
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| Year | 1909 |
| Type | Bronze |
| Location | Boston, United States |
| 42°20′19″N 71°05′37″W / 42.33873°N 71.09367°W | |
| Owner | Boston Museum of Fine Arts |
Appeal to the Great Spirit is a bronze equestrian sculpture by Cyrus Dallin, the last of a four-piece series called The Epic of the Indian.
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[edit] History
Dallin, a native of Utah, had a large amount of interaction with Native American children while growing up. This provided him with unique insights that he was to call upon while creating this, and other, works. [1]
In 1909, the sculpture was cast in Paris, and won a gold medal for its exhibition in the Paris Salon. There are three full size casts of the sculpture: one is located outside the main entrance to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,[2] another is in Muncie, Indiana, in the "Y" of the intersection of Walnut and Granville streets (40°12′17″N 85°23′10″W / 40.20485°N 85.38602°W) and is considered by many Muncie residents to be symbolic of Muncie.[3] The city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, contains the most recent full size installation in Woodward Park, at the intersection of 21st Street and Peoria (36°07′58″N 95°58′30″W / 36.13276°N 95.97489°W). It was cast in the mid-1980s by American Artbronze Fine Arts Foundry under the direction of Howard R. Kirsch.
A restoration of the Boston version was reversed at Dallin's request because he preferred the light green tones that had developed on the equestrian sculpture over time rather than the typical "statuary brown" patina the conservator applied prior to consulting him.
A bronze replica of the statue stands as the centerpiece of the Tower Room of Dartmouth College's Baker Tower, the college's main library and most iconic building.[4] Dartmouth was founded as an institution to educate the Native Americans of New England, and it often recalls that heritage through art such as Dallin's Appeal to the Great Spirit.
A plaster model is in the Rockwell Museum of Western Art.[5] A smaller-scale edition was produced by Gorham in 1913; a recent example sold for $9375.[6]
[edit] In popular culture
- The sculpture is used as the logo for the Beach Boys’ vanity record label Brother Records. It was first seen on their 1967 album Smiley Smile. When Beach Boy Carl Wilson was asked in 1975 why the group used this as their logo, he said the Indian was chosen because Carl’s grandfather believed that there was a spiritual Indian "guide" who watched over Brian, Dennis, and Carl from the "other side". The choice of the logo was Brian's. Carl called the logo "The Last Horizon".
- A painting of the sculpture appears on the cover of the album Lysol (1992) by rock group The Melvins.
- A painting of the sculpture appears on the cover of the album The Time Is Near (1970) by rock group Keef Hartley Band.
- A small scale casting of the sculpture forms part of the White House's permanent collection and was displayed in the Oval Office by former US President Bill Clinton.
- In the vinyl release of Directions to See a Ghost by the American rock band The Black Angels, the poster inside features a skeleton form of this sculpture with a psychedelic background.
[edit] References
- ^ Craven, Wayne, ‘’Sculpture in America’’, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1968 . 527-28
- ^ http://www.publicartboston.com/content/appeal-great-spirit
- ^ http://www.cityofmuncie.com/attractions/attraction.asp?aid=23
- ^ http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/collections/overview/americas/northamerica/uscanada/sculpture/S92815.html
- ^ http://www.rockwellmuseum.org/Appeal-to-the-Great-Spirit.html
- ^ http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5179590
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Appeal to the Great Spirit |
