''The Bowman'' and ''The Spearman'', also known collectively as ''Equestrian Indians'', or simply ''Indians'', are two

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

s standing as gatekeepers in Congress Plaza, at the intersection of Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

's Grant Park, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. The sculptures were made in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

by Croatian sculptor

Ivan Meštrović Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pavle Bilinić's ...

and installed at the entrance of the parkway in 1928. Funding was provided by the Benjamin Ferguson Fund.

Structure

Each statue stands seventeen feet high and rests atop an eighteen-foot

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

pedestal. When the area was first designed, the statues were intended to guard a grand staircase into the park. However, this staircase was removed when Congress Parkway was extended in the 1940s. Research in 2006 suggested that the lettering on the pedestals designed by architects Holabird & Roche was executed by sculptor

Rene Paul Chambellan Rene Paul Chambellan (September 15, 1893 – November 29, 1955) was an American sculptor who specialized in architectural sculpture. He was also one of the foremost practitioners of what was then called the "French Modern Style" and has subseq ...

History

The idea of placing large sculptures at the park entrance originated from famed

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, tow ...

Daniel Burnham's 1909 ''Plan of Chicago''. Burnham, a man of vision and charisma, was a strong influence on how the lakefront appears today. He imagined a vast parkland stretching from Michigan Avenue to the lakeshore filled with beautiful gardens, walkways, and public works of art. Burnham himself, however, planned for the two statues to be of “one Indian and one ‘

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years ...

like’ depiction of the conquering white pioneers" to symbolize both America's Indian heritage and its struggle for expansion. An unusual aspect of the sculptures is that both figures are missing their respective weapons, the

bow and arrow The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles (arrows). Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the practice was common ...

and the

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...

. The omitting of the weapons was intentional, as the artist preferred that they be “left to the imagination while attention is focused upon the bold lines of the musculature of both man and beast, as well as the linear patterns of the horses’ manes and tails and the figures’ headdresses.” Despite the fact that the weapons never actually existed, many theories have existed over time as to their supposed whereabouts. Some believe that they were taken as part of an elaborate prank, while others are under the impression that their removal was a show of respect after the events of

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

. One author said of these works, "Meštrović's finest monumental sculptures are his Chicago ''Indians'' (1926–27), they are not too obviously stylized: the muscles on the horsemen are almost anatomically realistic... These statues show how much more important true sculptural feeling is than ideology, for Meštrović hardly knew anything about the ideals of the American Indians and they certainly did not move him."Keckemet, Dusko. ‘’Ivan Mestrovic’’, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1976 unpaginated After completing a number of statues in Europe and other parts of the world, Meštrović returned to the United States and spent the remainder of his life as a celebrated professor first at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

and later at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...

Latitude and longitude coordinates

*''The Bowman'': *''The Spearman'':

References

External links

Save Our Sculptures/Smithsonian Entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman and the Spearman, The 1928 establishments in Illinois 1928 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Illinois Croatian art Equestrian statues in Illinois Nude sculptures in the United States Outdoor sculptures in Chicago Sculptures by Ivan Meštrović Sculptures of men in Illinois Sculptures of Native Americans in Illinois Statues in Chicago

Structure

History

Latitude and longitude coordinates

See also

Further reading

References

External links