''George Rogers Clark'' is a

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for Molding (decorative), moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of ...

bust made by American artist David McLary. Dated 1985, the sculpture depicts

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

hero and frontiersman

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American surveyor, soldier, and militia officer from Virginia who became the highest-ranking American patriot military officer on the northwestern frontier during the Ame ...

. The bust is located in an alcove on the third floor of the Indiana Statehouse in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, United States. The bust measures by by and sets upon a wooden base measuring approximately by by .Indiana State Museum, ''Bust of George Rogers Clark'', ID 99.2006.020.0080, 11 April 2006, Retrieved from Indiana State Museum Mimsy Database 16 November 2010.

Description

In a frontier-style fringe shirt with lace-up collar, George Rogers Clark looks off to his right. He wears a cowboy hat with the proper left of its brim rolled up. The surface of the bust is rough with a seemingly unrefined style.

On the posterior of the proper right shoulder is the artists' engraving which says:
DAVID MCLARY / 1985 / INDIANA STATE MUSEUM The

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

plaque on the wooden base reads:
GEORGE ROGERS CLARK / 1752–1818 / INDIANA STATEHOUSE COLLECTION

Historical background

This bust was sculpted by David McLary in 1985, an Indianapolis-based artist and employee of the Indiana State Museum. Using a

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...

process a mold was made of the sculpture and from this mold a preliminary cast was made. After the cast went through a refining process a second mold was made from the preliminary cast. It is from this second cast that six other busts were cast and finished in a variety of fashions. There were eight total casts. Other than the sculpture in the Indiana Statehouse, only two of the casts' whereabouts are known. One bust was presented to the George Rogers Clark Elementary School in

Clarksville, Indiana Clarksville is a town in Clark County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River and is a part of the Louisville Metropolitan area. The population was 22,333 at the 2020 census. The town was founded in 1783 by early resident George Rogers Cla ...

. Upon the request of former Councilman John Minta, one bust was then presented to the Clarksville Town Hall.

References

External links

Additional images of George Rogers Clark (McLary) in FlickrView more photos of this piece and other artwork found at the Indiana Statehouse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, George Rogers, Bust of 1985 sculptures Art in Indiana Busts in Indiana Indiana Statehouse Public Art Collection Monuments and memorials in Indiana Plaster sculptures in the United States Sculptures of men in Indiana