The MacNeil sculpture entitled “The Coming of the White Man” that sits atop the hill in Portland’s Washington Park was part of a larger celebration.
The Lewis and Clark Cennentenial Exposition of 1904 was Portland’s version of a “White City” — (Deja Vu Chicago’s Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1893! That Worlds Fair marked the 400th Anniversary of the voyage of Christopher Columbus in his discovery of the American continent.)
While the 1893 Fair focused the world’s spotlight on Chicago, this commemoration 1904-5 brought Portland and the West into the eyes of the young nation.
Webmaster Dan Leininger admires MacNeil’s Lewis & Clark Centennial sculpture in its wooded setting. The beauty of this piece is seen in the detail and emotion that is captured in the bronze.
Only three statues remain from the Portland exposition. All these surviving sculptures commemorate the 1804 Expedition from the Native American perspective. While MacNeil’s piece may be the most prominent, another noble native stands majestically nearby.
Down the hill to the east and south on a large rock out cropping, rests Alice Cooper’s rendition of “Sacajawea.” Her powerful, yet gentle, sculpture tells another tale of a heroic Native American. The native woman of this dramatic bronze raises her arm above the horizon pointing to the west as does the large mounting stone base. Clad in flowing leather skirts, she bears her infant son (Jean Baptiste) swaddled to her back.
On the base of the piece is the sculptor’s name: “Alice Cooper, Sc. 1905 Copyright”. On the opposite side the casting mark: “Henry Bonnard Bronze Founders, N.Y. 1905”
On the east side of the mounting stone a bronze plaque states the following story of this monumental piece:
ERECTED
BY THE WOMEN OF THE UNITED STATES
IN MEMORY OF SACAJAWEA
THE ONLY WOMAN
IN THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION
AND IN HONOR OF
THE PIONEER WOMEN OF OLD OREGON.
She carries her young and points the way.
According to a Wikipedia reference
The sculpture was commissioned for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition (1905) by the Committee of Portland Women, who requested a sculpture of “the only woman in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and in honor of the pioneer mother of old Oregon.”[1] Funding sources included the Port of Portland and Women for Lewis and Clark Exposition, which was supported by women across the Western United States.[1] The sculpture was unveiled on July 6, 1905 and originally stood in the center of the exposition’s plaza.[2] Suffragists present at the dedication included Susan B. Anthony, Abigail Scott Duniway and Anna Howard Shaw.[1] The statue was relocated to Washington Park on April 6, 1906, upon the fair’s completion.[2] According to the Regional Arts & Culture Council, which administers the sculpture, Cooper was the first female artist to be represented in Portland’s public sculpture collection.[1]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacajawea_and_Jean-Baptiste
COMMENTS: Much of the Portland Fair celebrated American Progress in very masculine terms of discovery and expansion. In contrast the two statues by MacNeil and Cooper gave recognition to the perspective of the Native Cultures already existing in the Northwest.
Alice Cooper was a contemporary of Hermon MacNeil. Both were trained in the Beau Arts style of allegorical interpretation. She studied with Lorado Taft at the Chicago Art Institute where MacNeil met and married Carol Brooks, an earlier student of Taft. Cooper also studied in New York City at the Students Art League in MacNeil’s first year of teaching there, around 1900-1902.
These two statues have remained as lessons in bronze on the history and expansion of America. Intriguingly, they tell their story more from the perspective of First Nation people. They are rich in the allegorical symbolism of the Beau Arts training from which these sculptors imagined and fashioned their tactical creative work.
We can be thankful for the empowering benefactors of the David Thompson Family and the Women of America and Oregon in particular. Without their vision and determination these pieces would not grace the Washington Park of Portland or the pages of www.HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com
For more story, stay tuned for PART THREE or visit the link below and the related postings listed for www.HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com
The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition: Portland’s “World’s Fair”
A never before seen or documented bronze piece from Hermon MacNeil’s earliest years as a sculptor has surfaced through a recent email message. The surprise came the other day to the website as a one line description and a surprising question.
“Black Pipe the Sioux” a small 6″ high, bas relief with the initials H M. 94.
Can you tell me more about Black Pipe?”Carol Miles
The request came from Massachusetts not far from where Hermon MacNeil was born and grew up in Chelsea (Everett, Malden). It included this photo: 
Thus began an email correspondence with Carol Miles that linked Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947) with Henry Turner Bailey (1865-1931).
Link #1: Henry Turner Bailey — Both Bailey and MacNeil graduated of Massachusetts Normal Art School. They were classmates for at least three years until MacNeil graduated in 1886 followed by Bailey in 1887. Both began studies there in their late teen years.
According to Carol: “Henry became the first Supervisor of Drawing for the State of Massachusetts, and later Dean of the Cleveland School of Art. Henry’s papers are housed at the Univ. of Oregon Archives, Eugene. There is correspondence between the two men there.”
Link #2: Black Pipe sculpture –This bas relief of Black Pipe was acquired by Henry Turner Bailey, the grandfather of the current owner. It has been handed down through the family ever since.
I have found no previous mention or photo of this piece. I have seen another photo of a different sculpture of Black Pipe by MacNeil in the Smithsonian Institute collections online
MacNeil’s bronze of Black Pipe, a Sioux warrior he befriended in 1893 (source Smithsonian Archives)
( http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=MacNeil&start=20 ).
The story of Black Pipe is told in dozens of stories on this site. A search brings up 14 posts that can be viewed at this link. Only six stories appear on each page. Be sure to view all three pages.
BLACK PIPE link — BLACK PIPE in 14 STORIES
https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/?s=Black+Pipe
:::::
The Smithsonian Collestions data base offers the following info on the photo of Black Pipe. See: [ http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=MacNeil&start=20 ]
The Soiux Brave Blackpipe [sculpture] / (photographed by A. B. Bogart) digital asset number 1
ARTIST:
MacNeil, Hermon Atkins 1866-1947
PHOTOGRAPHER:
Bogart, A. B.
TYPE:
Photograph
NOTES:
On photo mount label: H. A. MacNeil. Blackpipe the Soiux. Bogart. Classification number: 282. Accession: 4747[cropped].
TOPIC:
Ethnic–Sioux
Figure male–Head
IMAGE NUMBER:
SSC S0001642
SEE MORE ITEMS IN:
Photograph Archives
DATA SOURCE:
Archives and Special Collections, Smithsonian American Art Museum
The next several story-postings on www.HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com will document my “Searching for Uncle Hermon” in Portland, Oregon.
The Astoria Column high over the city overlooks the Pacific Ocean and the mouth of the Columbia River. Here Lewis and Clark reached the ocean in 1805 and wintered there. Donna and I visited here before driving on into Portland.
In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Second Lieutenant William Clark. and Captain Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition exploring the Louisiana Purchase Territories. Their goal, in part, was to search the territory for a possible river passage to the Pacific. 
Wall mural of Lewis and Clark Expedition in Jake’s Restaurant the In the lobby of the old Hotel Governor, Portland Oregon.
While they did not find a contiguous river route to the sea, they did reach the Pacific at what is now Astoria, Oregon.
On November 20, 1805 they encounter the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River.
A monument there, the Astoria Column, sits atop the high bluff overlooking the Columbia River as it flows into the Pacific Ocean. 
Donna and I came to Portland for four days to observe and document the “Coming of The White Man.” This 1904 sculpture by “Uncle Hermon” marks the westward most reach of his public monuments.
— The year 1904 marked the Centennial of the Lewis and Clark adventure. MacNeil’s opportunity to place a monument here in Portland came at the invitation of a prominent Portland Family, the David P. Thompson family.
At last we had arrived.
H. A. MacNeil’s Tribute to Portland, the indigenous Multnomah tribe, and the Centenary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was in hiking distance.
After writing about it for 10 years, “The Coming of The White Man” statue was on the agenda for the next morning!
As it unfolded, the day was beautiful and pictures stunning.
Webmaster Dan has arrived at another MacNeil Sculpture.
Sacajawea appears in Jake’s Grill murals.
MORE TO COME – stay tuned …
Webmaster Dan has come to the “The Coming of The White Man” statue after writing for 10 years about it on this site. The day was beautiful and pictures stunning.
Visit to Portland ~~ MacNeil’s “Coming of the White Man”
By · CommentsMay 8th I will be able to complete a “bucket list” check-off by visiting the “Coming of the White Man”.
This photo shows the upper base of the statue as part of the casting itself with the name sculpted into the base. This sits on the boulder that MacNeil crafted for the setting from Columbia River granite.
Post Card of 1905 Statue before the oak branch was broken. MacNeil selected the stone for the base and supervised its delivery from the quarry to the hill where it was hauled up by a four horse team.
I hope to take my own photos of the Statue in its Washington Park setting. I have told MacNeil’s stories of this piece, but have never had the pleasure of seeing it myself and spending time there.
Other posts related to the “The Coming of the White Man” [Click HERE]
More to come after May 8th.
Last Saturday while traveling home to South Dakota, I made an unscheduled stop at Reed Chevrolet in St. Joe, MO. As I took the exit ramp off I-29 at Frederick Ave., the red light on my Chevy Silverado dash told me that the alternator was failing.
I was planning to stop at Hazel’s Coffee to get some of our favorite beans to bring home, but I drove a block farther into Reed Chevrolet for emergency repairs.
While waiting for repairs, I met Lou Schreck, sales team member there. He gave me test drive in a new 2017 Red Silverado.
We drove downtown as Lou gave me his sales low down on Chevy’s 2017 Silverado line. I drove the very red 2017 that felt like a tall limo.
Lou Schrenk and “Poncho Villa”, Hermon MacNeil’s model for “THE PONY EXPRESS”
I gave Lou a history of the PONY EXPRESS statue in downtown St. Joe, Missouri and took his picture as MacNeil’s bronze mustang soared above.
Webmaster Dan in St. Joe again for the Ump-teenth time
I enjoyed meeting this friendly Chevy man and exploring the Silverado and St Joe again. Lou got a snapshot of me also with our Pony Express friends.
For more Pony Express stories that I told to Lou, click on this link:
The Reed repair shop got me back on the road to home
(I should have got a pic of the truck too. I swiped this from their website)
Jo Davidson’s autobiography,“Between Settings,” gives us pictures of two sculptors in the MacNeil aletier: Henri Crenier and John Gregory.
Henri Crenier
By the time Jo Davidson begins working for MacNeil, he describes Henri as a taunter and teaser:
Henri Crenier took a special delight in teasing me. I liked him and took it good-naturedly. But one day I lost my temper and we came to blows. I knocked him down and relieved my feelings by giving him a healthy pummeling. I was so busy that I did not hear MacNeil come into the studio. Suddenly I heard him say: “ Jo, when you get through, will you mix me a little plaster.”
MacNeil comment appears to be rather calm considering the ruff-housing of his assistants. Very likely, he had observed their conflict previously. And on this occasion thought, Jo had made his feelings known sufficiently and offered him a diversion to move his assistants on to the next tasks in the studio.
Crenier’s Early Life
AUTOPORTRAIT EN UNIFORME DU LYCÉE LAKANAL À LA CHAPELLE-D’ANGILLON – Henri Crenier
Before arriving in America and the College Point Studio, Henri’s early life began in Paris, France in 1873, Crenier studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts with Falguiere, who was also a teacher of Hermon MacNeil. Henri worked in the Asnières-sur-Seine (a commune on north Paris) and exhibited at the Paris Salon. Immigrating to the US in 1902, he entered the art community of New York City, eventually exhibiting with the National Sculpture Society.
In New York, Henri Crenier linked up quickly with Hermon MacNeil who was seven years his senior. Whether he knew of MacNeil from Falguiere at the Ecole des Beaux Arts or learned of him in New York at the Art Students League is uncertain. Jo Davidson’s narrative places him in MacNeil’s studio around 1902-1903 as a master sculptor.
Crenier’s Later Accomplishments
James Fenimore Cooper Memorial in Scarsdale, NY, By Henri Crenier (1873-1948) https://www.hermonatkinsmacneil.com/?attachment_id=9006
His solo work includes the James Fenimore Cooper Memorial in Scarsdale, New York, as well as his single largest commission, the two pediment sculptures in granite for the 1915 San Francisco City Hall. He also contributed to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915) and designed the freestanding figure of Achievement (see photo below) This photo of Nemours Mansion & Gardens is courtesy of TripAdvisor and the statue stands at the Nemours Mansion and Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware.
This photo of Nemours Mansion & Gardens is courtesy of TripAdvisor and the statue stands at the Nemours Mansion and Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware.
Henri Crenier adds Beauty to San Francisco City Hall
Henri Crenier went on to design and be chief sculptor of the San Francisco City Hall built after the 1906 earthquake. The regal structure soon became known as the “The People’s Palace.” Crenier’s design arose as an inspiring symbol of renewed hope in the heart of the city by the bay. This glorious gilded palace stood not for kings and queens, but for the people. For over a century since then all those who came were caught up in the Beaux Arts renaissance beauty of this public mansion. The video below tells the story of Henri Crenier’s design and direction of the construction of San Francisco City Hall (“Henri Crenier adds Beauty to San Francisco City Hall”; http://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/henri-crenier-adds-beauty-to-san-francisco-city-hall.html Jan. 24, 2017)
No matter how far much San Francisco may claim his talents, Henri Crenier got his start in America in the College Point Studio of Hermon MacNeil some 3000 miles away.
John Gregory
The Folger Shakespeare Library has nine large sculptures carved in white Georgia marble along the front of the building. These are the work of John Gregory (1879 – 1958). Each bas relief sculpture depicts a scene from one of William Shakespeare’s plays. http://stationstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/cs_folger_panel_000-a.jpg
Folger Shakespeare Library lighting the last four of John Gregory sculpture Panels and Capitol Dome at night.
Nine Marble Nine Bas Relief Sculptures Along the Front of the Folger Shakespeare Library
Going left to right across the front of the building and also from left to right in the 3 by 3 grid above starting with the top row:
1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2. Romeo and Juliet
3. The Merchant of Venice
4. Macbeth
5. Julius Caesar
6. King Lear
7. Richard III
8. Hamlet
9. Henry IV, Part I
The Folger Shakespeare Library is located at 201 East Capitol Street SE, Washington, DC.
Gregory’s Statue of Anthony Wayne: In 1937 John Gregory sculpted this statue of Anthony Wayne for Philadelphia.
In 1937 John Gregory sculpted this statue of Anthony Wayne for Philadelphia. CREDIT: By Michael Murphy, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16312124
SOURCES:
- Jo Davidson, Between Settings: an informal biography of Jo Davidson, New York: Dial Press, 1951. pp. 13-16.
- Lois Harris Kuhn, The World of Jo Davidson, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1958. pp
- http://wikivisually.com/wiki/Henri_Crenier
- Works of Sculptor John Gregory at Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.
- http://stationstart.com/2010/02/folger-marble-sculpture/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gregory_(sculptor)
