Last week we looked at the architecture of the James Museum and sculptures on the entrance level. This week, we look at sculptures on the second floor. For more on the James, see the first post in this series, or click Museums in the Obsessions cloud at right. This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/FCNFt-qEaXA.
Vic Payne, Into the Wild, 2014
Celebrates the second expedition (1843-1844) of John C. Fremont, who helped chart the West. With Kit Carson and a team of 40 men, Fremont traveled from Missouri through the Great Salt Lake Region, over the Sierra Nevada and the Rockies, to the Columbia River in Oregon and on to the Pacific Ocean. On his way back to St. Louis, Fremont became one of the first Americans to see Lake Tahoe and visited the site of present-day Sacramento.
This dramatic bronze with life-size figures is placed at the top of the stairs to the second floor, so that you see a few tantalizing glimpses before being able to see the whole piece. It’s one of my favorite pieces in the James. More on Vic Payne here.
Vic Payne, The Hunter Becomes the Hunted, 2002
Who’s having whom for dinner? This one’s placed so you can see it from the pedestrian walkway on the second floor as well as the gallery it’s in.
John Coleman, The Greeter (Black Moccasin Meeting Lewis and Clark), 2011
This is one of the bronzes Coleman created based on Catlin’s and Bodmer’s portraits of Indians, done some 30 years after the Lewis and Clark expedition. More examples are in last week’s post.
Allan Houser, Smoke Signal, 1993
Houser grew up with stories of the Apaches using smoke signals to communicate with each other. I like the smooth curves of the figure and the swooping lines of the fire and the fabric the boy is swinging.
Allan Houser, Abstract Crown Dancer, 1991
By the same artist as Smoke Signal: a rather more stylized figure. Houser is known for combining realism with abstraction.
Tammy Garcia, Andrea, 2009
A modern interpretation of a Pueblo Indian butterfly dancer, who celebrates the harvest and petitions the gods for good health and long life. The colors are patinas applied to the bronze. It’s quite large (six feet?).
Vic Payne, The Long Trail Home, 2001
Cattle Drive on the Chisholm trail: a helluva piece of detailed work. The same artist sculpted the first piece in this post, Fremont and Carson in a canoe.
Harry Jackson, Two Champs, 1978
Celebrates a rodeo champion and his horse. As a composition, it’s pretty impressive: the entire weight of horse and rider balances on a single horse’s hoof.
Allen Eckman, His Last Hunt, 2000
Done in “cast paper”, a medium I don’t think I’ve seen used before – at least not on this scale. (The whole piece is perhaps 3 feet wide.) The initial steps are the same as for a sculpture to be cast in bronze: the artist makes a clay sculpture and then a negative mold. But instead of metal, he fills the negative mold with acid-free paper pulp. When the pulp has dried, he adds details such as the grass, the horses’ manes, and the thick fur around the buffalo’s head.
Craig Dan Goseyun, Going to Market, 1996
The Apache woman carries a “burden basket” for marketing. I like the way this figure is simplified and stylized, and the way the artist has applied different patinas to add color.
Next week: paintings in the James Museum.
More
- In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon in print and Kindle formats. More here.
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