Apr

MacNeil’s “Pioneer Woman” ~ Visiting Ponca City, OK ~ Part 1

“Challenging” is the title of MacNeil’s “Pioneer Woman” (1927) at the Museum Home of E.W. Marland in Ponca City, OK. Her right hand bears an axe while her left carries her child. She wears no bonnet.

ON December 13, 2022, I visited Ponca City OK. I photographed MacNeil’s entry in the 1927 commission contest sponsored by E. W. Marland.

Here are a few results of this day of “Searching for Uncle Hermon.”

A previous posting CLICK HERE displayed this work and others by MacNeil and Jo Davidson. An excerpt stated:

‘In 1927 wealthy oilman E. W. Marland of Ponca City, Oklahoma invited a dozen American sculptors to compete for a commission to create a statue to honor the Pioneer Woman. Each artist was to submit a two-foot bronze model for the monument, which was to express, in Marland’s words, “the spirit of the pioneer woman—a tribute to all women of the sunbonnet everywhere.”’ SEE POST: https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/2021/02/15/hermon-and-jo-at-the-peaks-of-careers-story-3-feb-2021/

Detail of MacNeil’s “Pioneer Woman” holding her infant clinging to her breast.

“Challenging” is MacNeil’s entry to the “Pioneer Woman” competition. She wears no bonnet. Her hair seems ‘frontier-feminine’ in length. She holds her child close to her breast. Her gaze is forward and alert.

The artists who submitted models for Marland’s commission were Bryant Baker, A, Stirling Calder, Jo Davidson, James Earle Fraser, John Gregory, F. Lynn Jenkins, Mario Korbel, Arthur Lee, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, Maurice Sterne, Mahonri Young, and Wheeler Williams.^[3] The models were to tour America and everyone who visited the sites where they were exhibited was allowed to vote for their favorite.^{[6] SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Woman}

From its opening at the Reinhardt Galleries, the tour moved on. Stops included Boston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Fort Worth, and Ponca City.^[14] At each location visitors were invited to vote for their three favorite models.^[8] In all over 750,000 people viewed the models and over 120,000 votes were placed.^[14]^[15]