WELCOME to the “Hermon A. MacNeil” — Virtual Gallery & Museum !
~ This Gallery celebrates my great Uncle, Hermon Atkins MacNeil an American classic sculptor of the Beaux Arts School. He sculpted Native images and American history: ~ World’s Fairs, statues, monuments, coins, and more… ~ Over 300 stories (25 per page) in 10 pages. (Click on Next Page >> at bottom). View thousands of photos from this virtual MacNeil Gallery. It stretches from New York to New Mexico ~ Oregon to S. Carolina. ~ 2016 marked the 150th Anniversary of Hermon MacNeil’s birth. ~ Hot-links ( lower right) lead to works by Hermon Atkins MacNeil. ~~Do you WALK or DRIVE by MacNeil sculptures DAILY! ~ TRAVEL DIGITALLY to my Uncle Hermon’s works here!
Daniel Neil Leininger, webmaster
DO YOU walk by MacNeil Statues and NOT KNOW IT ???
THE GALLEY, (issue #47, for Fall/Winter 2023) arrives in January 2024. It will feature a summary of the first half of the recent biography of Hermon Atkins MacNeil. This book, (researched, written, and published) by James Haas has been previewed several times here since its release in November 2022.
THEGALLEYis the official magazine of the Clan MacNeil Association of America edited by Vicki Sanders Corporon.As a teen she assisted her mother, Nellie McNeill Sanders, who was then Editor. Ever since, they continued the mother/daughter labors leading to Vicki following her mother as Editor.
Under Vicki’s watch THE GALLEY has grown into a bound full-color volume published semi-annually. It is mailed world-wide to all members of the Association as a privilege of membership.
My upcoming articles are the fourth and fifth that I have written for THE GALLEY.1, 2, 3.Part 2 will condense the second half of Haas’ book and be featured in the Spring/Summer issue of THE GALLEY.
I enjoy writing for THEGALLEY and working with Vicki Corporon. Many factors contribute to that pleasure:
Our travel through Scotlandand Isle of Barrain 2014 has generated tremendous knowledge, imagery, and appreciation for my Scottish heritage (MacNeil and McKay).
My 14 years as Webmaster of this website has allowed me to produce nearly 300 postings. My reading, research, photography, and travel have become my retirement career.
My collaboration with James E. Haas through these years AND his continued research and publication of the Hermon MacNeil Biography have produced parallel research heightening public interest and awareness of Hermon Atkins MacNeil.
Roger Bow with his MacNeil Medallion at the MacNeil Flushing Memorial NYC (8-23-2020)
I’ve spent the last decade traveling and photographing monuments, statues, and geography associated with MacNeil’s life and accumulated a database of resources for my writing.
Through the website, I have met so many MacNeil descendants and enthusiasts(I call them my “Friends of https://HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com)
My minting of the MacNeil Medallion commemorative in 2016 has increased knowledge and enthusiasm for Hermon Atkins MacNeil, the Standing Liberty Quarter.
2016 MacNeil Medallion marking the 150th Anniversary the birth of Hermon A. MacNeil. Commissioned by our webmaster, these numbered medals are available on eBay.
2016 MacNeil Medallion marking the 15th Anniversary of his birth. Available on eBay.
Daniel Neil Leininger, “100 Years Ago in New York City, Relatives United to Form the Clan MacNeil Association of America.” THE GALLEY, SPRING/SUMMER 2021; Vol.VI, No. 62, Pages 14-20.
Daniel Neil Leininger, “Kisimul Castle: Centennial Stories”. THE GALLEY, FALL/WINTER 2021; Vol.VI, No. 63, Pages 12-22.
The Stars and Stripes fly day and night at the home of Webmaster Dan Leininger in South Dakota. They are illuminated dusk to dawn by automatic lighting. (The tie, however, only waves on special occasions like July 4th.)
After the adoption of the US Constitution in 1789 and for the next 146 years, the United States Supreme Court had no permanent home. Briefly from 1789 to 1800, the Federal Government functioned out of Philadelphia, and then New York City until the permanent Capitol was built in the District of Columbia. Finally, in 1800 the U.S. Federal Governmentmoved into Washington, D.C.
Painting: “British Burn the Capitol, 1814,” Allyn Cox, 1974, Corridor, House wing, First Floor.
The Supreme Court of the United States, however, changed its meeting place a half dozen times within the Capitol. After the British burned the Capitol in the War of 1812, the Court convened in a private home. Eventually, from 1860 until 1935, the Court sat in what is now known as the “Old Senate Chamber.”
Hermon Atkins MacNeil(1866 -1947)
Cass Gilbertarchitect (1859 – 1934)
Though considered a co-equal branch, the Judicial function seemed a “nomadic” tenant of space in the growing Capitol until 1929. A former President, who later served as Chief Justice, changed that itinerant existence.
Chief Justice Wm. Howard Taft1921
In 1929 Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who had been President of the United States from 1909 to 1913, persuaded Congress to end this arrangement and authorize the construction of a permanent home for the Court. Architect Cass Gilbert was charged by Chief Justice Taft to design “a building of dignity and importance suitable for its use as the permanent home of the Supreme Court of the United States.”[Gilbert and Taft were both Ohioans and life long friends.]
Neither Taft nor Gilbert survived to see the Supreme Court Building completed. Construction proceeded under the direction of Chief Justice Hughes and architects Cass Gilbert, Jr., and John R. Rockart. The construction, begun in 1932, was completed in 1935, when the Court was finally able to occupy its own building.
Hermon MacNeil and Architects
Hermon MacNeil trained in Paris at the Ecole de Beaux Arts with both sculptors and architects. He later won the Reinhart Prize and again studied with architects and sculptors from 1896 to 1899 at the American Academy in Rome.
The New York Architectural League wanted an award medallion to present to architects and sculptors. They commissioned Hermon MacNeilto create a suitable medal. Photos of MacNeil’s original clay masters may be viewed here:[CLICK HERE]. These clay were reduced onto the steel dies used press the final medallions pictured below.
The actual medal presented to Weinmanis pictured below. It resides in the webmaster’s private collection.
New York Architectural League Medal. Designed by Hermon MacNeil this is the actual medallion awarded to A. A. Weinmann. https://www.pafa.org/museum/collection/item/medal-honor-sculpture-architectural-league-new-york Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Hermon MacNeil and Cass Gilbert
MacNeil added sculptures to at least two of Cass Gilbert’smany buildings and monument projects.
The Supreme Court website suggests Gilbert was directly involved with the sculptor’s designs.
Cass Gilbert, the building’s architect, worked closely with MacNeil from 1932 to 1934 to create the thirteen symmetrically balanced figures above the Corinthian portico.
The central marble figures on this rarely noticed eastern pediment depict the theme “Justice – The Guardian of Liberty.” Sculptor MacNeil’s central figures represent three great Eastern civilizations from which our laws are derived. These figures portray lawgivers: Moses (receiver of Hebrew Ten Commandments) flanked by Confucius (Chinese philosopher and teacher) and Solon (Athenian lawmaker, statesman, and poet). Confucius is on the viewers’ left, Solon to the right, both flanking Moseswith his hands on two separate tablets. 1
MacNeil & the St. Louis Art Museum (Palace of Fine Arts).
Painting: “British Burn the Capitol, 1814,” Allyn Cox, 1974, Corridor, House wing, First Floor. (https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/blog/most-magnificent-ruin-burning-capitol-during-war-1812)
“The East Pediment” https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/east_pediment_11132013.pdf.SEE ALSO: “Religious Symbols Inside & Outside the U.S. Supreme Court Building”. Assembled by Nathaniel Segal 2014 http://nathanielsegal.mysite.com/TenCommandments/10SupremeCourtBuilding.html
Protesters in the shadow of Hermon MacNeil’s statue of Pres. McKinley scream outside of the Capitol doors. Columbus, Ohio
Angry Protestors at the Ohio Capitol screamed over their governor’s “Stay-at-home” orders outside the locked door. That same day, five other states experienced protests. “LIBERATION” of all these states was “whispered” by Donald Trump’s Twitter feed the day before. (see below … )
MacNeil’s sculpture design for the Award Medals at the Pan American Exhibitition, Buffalo, NY 1901 (reverse). All award medals were struck from the same design whether in Bronze, silver or gold. These are silver medals.
MacNeil exhibited at the 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY where McKinley was slain. He also designed the medallion that was awarded for the gold, silver, and bronze medals for exhibit winners.
BUT these “PROTESTORS” didn’t seem to have any awareness of history (neither does our 45th President) or of a global COVID-19 PANDEMIC. They exhibit their irrational “fantasy world” as a political statement molded after “TRUMP RALLIES.”
Jeff Darcy offers an apropos opinion and cartoon below:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The “Enabler-in-Chief” President Donald Trump has helped incite protests in multiple states against lockdown measures to fight Covid-19 by tweeting for states to be “Liberated” and dismissing the protests as slight cases of “cabin fever” just as he had initially dismissed the coronavirus spread in the United States.
On Friday, Trump posted in a series of tweets calls to “LIBERATE MINNESOTA”. “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment.”
All three states have Democratic Governors and are pivotal in Trump’s reelection bid. [https://www.cleveland.com/darcy/2020/04/trump-liberate-tweets-enable-protesters-darcy-cartoon.html]
Credit: Jeff Darcy at https://www.cleveland.com/darcy/2020/04/trump-liberate-tweets-enable-protesters-darcy-cartoon.html
McKinley’s assassin was an anarchist.
By Henry Donovan – NOTE 2
Leon Frank Czołgosz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʂɔwɡɔʂ], roughly “CHOW-gosh“; May 5, 1873 – October 29, 1901) was an American steelworker and anarchist who assassinated American PresidentWilliam McKinley on September 6, 1901 in Buffalo, New York, with a .32 Caliber Iver Johnson revolver. Czolgosz was executed seven weeks later on October 29, 1901.
Czolgosz believed there was a great injustice in American society, an inequality which allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. He concluded that the reason for this was the structure of government itself. Then he learned of a European crime which changed his life: On July 29, 1900, King Umberto I of Italy had been shot dead by anarchist Gaetano Bresci. Bresci told the press that he had decided to take matters into his own hands for the sake of the common man.[22] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Czolgosz]
The 45th PRESIDENT has established himself as a true “Liar-in Chief” …
DOES the 45th PRESIDENT also PROMOTE anarchy?
Evaluate that question for yourself?
Hint — a definition:
anarchy
[ˈanərkē] NOUN
a state of disorder due to absence or nonrecognition of authority.
“he must ensure public order in a country threatened with anarchy”
absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual, regarded as a political ideal.
McKinley’s assassin was a documented anarchist.
McKinley’s assassin, Leon Frank Czołgosz was an unemployed, angry, anarchist.
Leon Czolgosz shoots President McKinley with a revolver concealed under a cloth rag. Clipping of a wash drawing by T. Dart Walker. [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_William_McKinley]
On September 6, Czolgosz went to the exposition armed with a concealed .32 caliberIver Johnson “Safety Automatic”revolver[25][26] he had purchased four days earlier.[27] He approached McKinley, who had been standing in a receiving line inside the Temple of Music, greeting the public for ten minutes. At 4:07 P.M., Czolgosz reached the front of the line. McKinley extended his hand. Czolgosz slapped it aside and shot the President in the abdomen twice, at point blank range: the first bullet ricocheted off a coat button and lodged in McKinley’s jacket; the other seriously wounded him in his stomach. McKinley died eight days later on September 14 of an infection which had spread from the wound.
Members of the crowd immediately attacked Czolgosz, as McKinley slumped backward. McKinley said, “Go easy on him, boys.”[28][29] The police struggled to keep the crowd off Czolgosz.[30] He was held in a cell at Buffalo’s 13th Precinct house at 346 Austin Street until he was moved to police headquarters.
SO DOES the 45th PRESIDENT PROMOTE anarchy?
IS the 45th PRESIDENT ASSASSINATING231 years of Democracy in the USA ?
Will this 2020 Global PANDEMIC render the final verdict on his reign of Twitter-ing Fantasy?
The answers to these questions await us like a Virus, contagious and deadly!
http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=CHE19010914&e=——-en-20–1–txt-txIN——-#, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41332897
Rarest of the Rare! A very rare Silver – Society of Medalists #3 – by ‘H. A. MacNeil’ (in lower right).
It is “Silver.”
Only twenty-five were minted in 1931.
In the summer of 1895, Hermon MacNeil traveled to the Southwest. With Hamlin Garland and Charles Francis Browne, they journey by railroad to the four-corners region of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah.
With Garland as guide the sculptor and the artist witnessed Native American culture first hand. They visited the Hopi and Navajo reservations immersed in Native American life. They saw the “Prayer for Rain”~ the Snake Dance ceremony depicted here on the SOM #3.
The “Prayer for Rain” depicts the Moqui (Hopi) runner carrying the snakes to the river to activate the rain cycle of nature. [SOM #3 Reverse]
This Society of Medalists Issue #3, in Silver, by Hermon MacNeilis rare. This silver “Beauty” is the only one I have seen in my ten years of “Searching for Uncle Hermon” and producing this website.
ONLY 25 were made in SILVER(99.9%).
The Silver issue of MacNeil’s medallion is among the rarest of the rare.
Over sixty-times that number were struck in Bronze (1,713). Now nearly eight decades later, those are more common, but also rare and collectible. [See pictured below — at the end of this article — this author’s collection of the varied Bronze patinas of S.O.M #3.]
The next year (1932), Frederick MacMonnies sculpted a medallion celebrating Charles A. Lindbergh historic flight. 250 of those medallions were struck in Silver. That makes the Lindbergh issue ten times more common than MacNeil’s “Hopi”. (10 X 25) —
Silver minting of most SOM Issues quantities usually ranged from 50 to 125. Most often 100 silver specimens were struck. SO the 25 of the MACNEIL’S “Prayer for Rain” creations are twiceas rare and up to 10times as rare as other SOM Issues.
This, all Society of Medalists (SOM) in Silver can be considered rare. However, this MacNeil piece is definitely “THE RAREST OF THE RARE!”
This images that MacNeil’s placed of the Obverse and Reverse had been burned in his visual memory in 1895. They lived in his artist’s awareness for decades. It is no stretch to say that they inspired numerous sculptures and pieces that came out of his studio.
“The Moqui Runner,” “The Primitive Chant,” were “living”in his mind when he first saw these scenes. Then, three decades later, he chose them for his own theme and design. Thus, the 1931 Society of Medalists Issue #3 became his offering to this young series by American Sculptors.
The following are just a few of the sculptures and monuments, which re-capture some of the Native American culture and history first observed in this 1895 trip to the Hopi (Moqui) people.
1930 to 1944. ~ struck 2X to 5X this quantity of SILVER medallions.
1945 to 1950. ~ those SOM silver issues were minted in quantities of 50 to 60.
1950 to 1972. ~ NO silver medallions were struck.
1973 to 1979. ~ Silver medallions ranged from 140-200.
No Silver coins were struck from 1980-1995
In 1995 the “Society of Medalists Series” closed production.
In 1931 design the the Society of Medalist medal #3, Hermon MacNeil chose to immortalize his memory of these images from 1895 in rare silver — 99.9% fine silver!
A Rare Beauty Indeed. Hi Ho, Silver !
MacNeil Display MacNeil Medallion (front and reverse) in Center. Framed by 10 SOM #3 (Obverse & reverse) of varied patinas. SOURCE: Collection of Webmaster
SOURCES:
Information taken from the six page list entitled: Medal Collectors of America; Checklist of “The Society of Medalists” Issues 1930 – Date. Originally written by D. Wayne Johnson with rights retained by him; used with permission.
His listing includes the original pricing supplied by Paul Bosco in the inaugural issue of the MCA’s publication “The Medal Cabinet”(Summer 2000) for the silver issues and Paul’s update values for the bronze pieces that appeared in the Spring/Summer 2002 edition of “The MCA Advisory.”
Hermon A. MacNeil Commemorative sketched by Artist Charles D. Daughtrey as the seventh work in his Series of Coin Designers is available at http://www.cdaughtrey.com/
AND THE 10th Year of my Search for “Uncle Hermon” for whom this website is dedicated.
This website also is inspired by the memory of my mother, Ollie McNeil Leininger.
I remember my mother telling me about her “Uncle Hermon.”
She handed me some “Liberty Standing Quarters” from her grocery change and showed me the little “M” at the left foot of Lady Liberty.
She showed me “The Sun Vow” statue in the Saint Louis Art Museum. We also visited “The Pony Express” statue in St. Joseph, Missouri. I grew up with a sense of pride and quiet fascination with mom’s “Uncle Hermon”
I never met “Uncle Hermon”
Hermon A. MacNeil died on October 2, 1947 at the age of 81 years, 7 months, and 8 days. On the day that he died I was just two years-old.
To read the whole article, Click and open in a separate window
My own Mother died years later in the winter of 1985. At that time, I wrote:
With her passing a warm, safe feeling faded from my world. I was the “baby” of her six children. Her death ushered in feelings of being a midlife orphan who would soon turn forty. Darkness seemed to creep in from the far corners of my life. A strange fearful child inside of me said, “Who will take care of me now?”
As the years passed, I would think of mom, and occasionally, of her “Uncle Hermon.”
By the turn of the 2K millennium, computers and the internet had become household items. This allowed people to hunt, find, and save data. I found fascinating stories about Hermon Atkins MacNeil. Virtually anything from anywhere could be researched.
In 2010, I met Dan DeBlock. He is a retired Army Chaplain and Lutheran Minister who builds websites for churches. It started as a hobby interest and became Leiturgia Communications, Inc. The Host and Tech Support for this website.
One day I asked Dan DeBlock, “Could a website be built as virtual gallery of the sculpture of Hermon Atkins MacNeil?”
Nine years and 170 stories later, “HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com” is the answer to my question and Dan’s hosting.
In that year (2010), I seriously began my “Searching for Uncle Hermon.”
That journey continues. This is story # 171 – A Birthday Present for Hermon Atkins MacNeil.
This Gallery celebrates Hermon Atkins MacNeil, American sculptor of the Beaux Arts School.
The year 2016 marks the sesquicentennial of the birth of Hermon Atkins MacNeil on February 27, 1886.
Hermon Atkins MacNeil about the time of his Standing Liberty works.
While we celebrate each February as “MacNeil Month,” this year is extra special as the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Several events during 2016 will acknowledge that here on HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com:
.
The newly commissioned 2016 MacNeil Medallion will be available for sale on eBay. CLICK HERE
Postings will continue to celebrate the life and art of Hermon A. MacNeil.
Kisimul Castle the home of the MacNeil Chieftans from the 14th century, will be featured.
The origins of the MacNeil Clan on the Isle of Barra in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides will be visited with photos and history .
The webmaster’s ongoing travels and activity will be presented as his “Search for Uncle Hermon” continues as a odyssey of retirement.
Antique “MacNeil Postcards” of some of his sculptures across the U. S. will be presented as features.
MacNeil’s years in Paris will be revisited with photos of the newly restored Ecole de Beaux Arts where he studied and taught.
MacNeil’s teachers in Paris will be featured with photos of their sculptures in the Musee d’Orsay in the center of Paris. This museum was built as the railroad station for the Universal Exposition of 1900 in which MacNeil and his contemporary sculptors exhibited and received prizes.
Our recent Travels to Scotland will be featured with photos and stories.
Our travels to France this year will be shared.
ALL in ALL, 2016 begins as a banner year for this website. SO stay tuned.
This February 27th, 2016 marks another anniversary of the birth of Hermon Atkins MacNeil our patron sculptor.
2016 actually celebrates the:
150th
Anniversary
of the birth of
HERMON ATKINS Mac NEIL
In honor of this Anniversary, we have commissioned a MacNeil Medallion commemorating his birth and the Centennial of the first minting of the Liberty Standing Quarter.
This beautiful bronze medal features the image of MacNeil at about age 60. It is plated in nickel and measures 3 inches (77 mm) in diameter.
NOW ON eBay, (Click Here) This new Medallion is a bronze medal 3″ in diameter with nickel plating. Minted in 2016, it commemorates the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Hermon Atkins MacNeil, as well as, the 100th Centenary year of the Standing Liberty Quarter minted from 1916-1930.
The center of the face duplicates the obverse of MacNeil’s original sculpture ofMiss Liberty from 1916. The “M” at the bottom (to the right of the 13th star) is the only form of signature allowed for the sculptor.
The reverse features the central image of Hermon A. MacNeil (1886-1947) and denotes the 150th Anniversary of his birth. This sesquicentennial will be celebrated here at HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com for the next 366 days of 2016. [ CLICK HERE for eBay link ]
Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947) – “Hopi” (Obverse) and “Prayer for Rain” (Reverse) Society of Medallists (SOM), Issue#3 of 1931, was based on MacNeil’s “Moqui (Hopi) Runner” statue of 1897. This was the only SOM issue that MacNeil would ever sculpt. Yet nearly fifty years later (1943), he vividly described these images of his 1895 travels to the Hopi (Moqui) Mesa in his Autobiographical Sketches.
MacNeil’s brief artists intro accompanying the medal is as follows:
Four examples of various finish patinas on medals that MacNeil selected for SOM#3 in 1931 (Reverse view. From collection of Dan Leininger, webmaster)
“The two incidents of the Hopi Prayer for Rain on the mesas of northeastern Arizona depicted on this medal are chosen by your sculptor because of the extraordinary vital enthusiasm and power that the Indians throw into this ceremony. Having witnessed it and been thrilled by the intensity of their emotion and on further study by the complicated and perfectly natural development of this drama, I cannot help feel that in it we find a basic note underlying all religions. All these Southwest Indians, living as they do in an arid region, have developed their religion along the lines of their greatest need –water.”
In the documentation accompanying each medal, MacNeil offered the following additional narrative of his witnessing of this ritual nearly 36 years earlier while on his 1895 venture to the Southwest with Hamlin Garland and Charles F. Browne:
“This is one of their greatest and most important ceremonies. Occurring in August, it is filled with ritualism for nine days and in their kiva, an underground chamber, they have ceremonies with these snakes that have been gathered by the antelope and snake clans of their tribe for six days, from the north, east, south and west, also from above and below, therefore from all the directions of the universe. These snakes, so far as our best authority goes, although a portion of them are poisonous varieties, are not tampered with but are handled freely by the Indians, both during their underground ceremonies, and later on the last day above ground, in their public ceremony. During the last day ceremony they dance two and two, one with the snakes in his mouth, sometimes two at a time, while the other, accompanying him, wards off the head of the snake from the face of his companion with an eagle feather. It will be remembered that the eagle preys on the snake in nature and the smell of the eagle feather is supposed to frighten the snake with the intention of preventing him from biting. This ceremony was so intense and apparently so vital to them that although I myself saw two Indians bitten, they seem to be so completely under the control of the spirit that although I watched for further developments, yet there seemed to be no swelling or poisonous effects from the bites.
Even though the dancing takes place after the participants have taken hardly any food during the nine days, yet immediately after the public ceremony, which is performed in a circular action around the sacred stone on the mesa at Waslpi, they each take an emetic. After circling twice around the sacred rock, the one bearing snakes in his mouth emits them and a third follower immediately grabs the snake from the ground and carries it back to a little improvised enclosure of cottonwood boughs. After all the snakes have been used on this manner each Indian grabs into the bunch and with his hands filled with the snakes, each one starts running down the trail off the mesa onto the plains as shown on the reverse side of the medal and figuratively deposits the snakes again in their underground abodes.
Obverse of SOM#3 by Hermon MacNeil (collection of Dan Leininger, webmaster)
Behind the heads of the dancers on the obverse is shown the sand picture drawn by the Indians themselves with colored earths on the floor of their kiva or underground chamber, about which they performed sacred ceremonials previous to the public dance. On this side of the medal the attempt is also made to show the apparent basic reason for the use of the snake in this prayer for water. This reason or theory seems to have evolved from the similarity in action between the snake on the earth and the lightning in the sky. The Indian, however, has evolved the theory of a kind of cousinship through these angular moving reptiles with the still more angular movement of the lightning to jar the rain clouds for rain, thus making their chief need their strongest prayer. Curiously enough, although there had been no sign of rain for weeks, the day following the remarkable ceremony, a little cloud appeared in the sky and the next day it rained copiously.”
[ SOURCE: Society of Medalists documentation accompanying the medals; reproduced at “Medals4Trade” ]
1931 “Moqui Rain Dance” (Obverse) SOM #3 ~ Dan Leininger, webmaster
The screen capture (below) shows a frame from the 1929 silent movie “The Medal Maker.” This photo frame shows four presidents of the National Sculpture Society who were also “Medal Makers” presenting the NSS‘s ‘Special Award Medal’ to Daniel Chester French (center). French (1850-1931) died just 2 years after this video was made. The making of the Medal by Laura Gardin Fraser is told in “The Medal Maker” (see cover at right).
Three of these sculptors (Fraser, Weinman and MacNeil) had already redesigned US Coinage. They created the Buffalo Nickel (JEF), the Liberty [Mercury] Dime & Walking Liberty Half-Dollar (AAW), and the Standing Liberty Quarter (HAM).
Below are Society of Medalists creations and stories from each sculptor on some of their medal making. (The SOM medal images below are from the collection of the webmaster, Daniel Neil Leininger.)
This screen capture shows the video playing on this website as posted on Sept 26, 2011
Laura Garden Frazer and James Earle Frazer were both sculptors.(http://www.nysmhs.org/history/LauraGardinFraser/index.htm)
All five sculptors contributed to the “Society of Medalists” series of the Medallic Arts Company started in 1930, one year after this video was made. Laura Gardin Fraser, the maker of the NSS Special Award Medal, is the fifth medal maker featured here. She also sculpted the SOM#1, First Issue of the entire SOM series. Her NSS Award Medal (100mm or 4 inches) is featured below also.
James Earl Fraser (1876-1953) ~ SOM #45 “The Pony Express” and “New Frontiers” 1952″ James Earle Fraser was the husband of Laura Gardin Fraser and 13 years her senior. He chose historic images of the west, namely, the “Pony Express” and the oxen-drawn “Covered Wagon.” He stated that the Covered Wagon was a childhood image that he remembered from his childhood in South Dakota and Minnesota.
James Earle Fraser's "Pony Express" and "New Frontier"
Adolph Alex Weinman (1870-1952). ~ SOM#39 ~ 1949 ~ “Genesis” and “Web of Destiny.” Weinman offers the following description of his inspiration for this piece:
“… for ‘Genesis’, look up chapter one in your Bible, I could not say it nearly as well. As to the ‘Web of Destiny’, that should be easily interpreted. The little fellow is Eros, who can perform more miracles in guiding the strands of destiny than any power known to man.” (J.E.F. -SOM #39)
Adolph Alex Weinman ~ “Genesis” and “Web of Destiny” SOM #39 ~ 1949
Laura Gardin Fraser (1889-1966). Her sculpture of the National Sculpture Society special award medal is the subject of the “Medal Maker” film/video. The presentation of the medal to French by the four past-presidents of the NSS is also recorded in that film.
Obverse: Male nude figure to l. in seated in fetal pose holding hammer and chise, imposed on Pegasus to l.: Mute.
Reverse: Flame.: NATIONAL SCULPTURE SOCIETY/ SPECIAL — MEDAL/ OF — HONOR
Measurements: 100 mm / 4 inches
Laura Gardin Fraser's NSS Award Medal presented to Daniel Chester French. The sculptor with mallet and chisel in hands, rests in slumberous thought as Pegasus rises to to seek messages from the gods. This is the Medal that Fraser was sculpting in the "Medal Maker" silent film of 1929, later made into a narrated video in 1997. (From the Collection of Daniel Neil Leininger, webmaster)
NSS Special Award Medal by Laura Gardin Fraser ~ 1929 (obv). This is the Medal that Fraser was sculpting in the "Medal Maker" silent film of 1929, later made into a narrated video in 1997. (From the Collection of Daniel Neil Leininger, webmaster)
Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947) – “Hopi” and “Prayer for Rain” SOM #31 ~ 1931. Based on MacNeil’s “Moqui (Hopi) Runner” of 1897, this was the only SOM medal that he would sculpt.
For his lengthy explanation of the theme he chose, see this website: “Medals4Trade”
MacNeil’s brief intro to the medal is as follows: “The two incidents of the Hopi Prayer for Rain on the mesas of northeastern Arizona depicted on this medal are chosen by your sculptor because of the extraordinary vital enthusiasm and power that the Indians throw into this ceremony. Having witnessed it and been thrilled by the intensity of their emotion and on further study by the complicated and perfectly natural development of this drama, I cannot help feel that in it we find a basic note underlying all religions. All these Southwest Indians, living as they do in an arid region, have developed their religion along the lines of their greatest need –water.”
Hermon MacNeil's "Prayer for Rain" was based on his statue "The Moqui Runner"
Four examples of various finish patinas medals that MacNeil selected for SOM#3 in 1931 (from collection of Dan Leininger, webmaster)
Reverse of SOM#3 by Hermon MacNeil (collection of Dan Leininger, webmaster)
Herbert Adams (1858-1945)~ SOM #009 ~ The Prize and The Little Shiner 1934
“Oh What Are the Prizes We Perish to Win” (on obverse), “To the First Little Shiner We Caught with a Pin” (on reverse). Numbers Issued: 1,207 Bronze, 100 Silver.
The words that Adams placed on the medal are translation of the two lines from Oliver Wendell Holmes’ poem, “Song of a Piece of Eight”, ~ He made the medal eight-sided (as a piece-of-eight) reminiscent of the pirate poem “Oh what are the prizes we perish to win. To the first little ‘shiner’ we caught with a pin.”
Herbert Adams SOM #009 ~ The Prize and The Little Shiner ~ 1934
ALL FOUR MEN in the photo (excluding Daniel Chester French) would become Medal Makers for the SOM Series. The Society of Medalistsseries (begun in 1930 after this photo of 1929) was created by Medallic Art Company. It enlisted sculptors for the next 65 years. That list would read like the Who’s Who of Sculptors (American and otherwise) from 1930 to 1995.
LAURA GARDIN FRASER was “The Medal Maker” featured in this film by that same name. I imagine that she was present for the presentation of the medal to French. She made numerous other medals (George Washington Bicentennial Medal 1932, Gilbert Stuart It seems ironic that her husband, James Earle Fraser, is admiring the medal and explaining some of her technique with the other sculptors. It is likely that Carol Brooks MacNeil was also present at the event. Women, however, were not in leadership in her era.
Chief Manuelito of the Navajo sculpted by Hermon A. MacNeil in 1895 two years after the Chief's death at age 75.
This topic seems a strange fit for a website devoted to the art of Hermon Atkins MacNeil, an American Sculptor of the 19th and 20th centuries, born in Massachuesetts of Scottish descendents.
Please, bear with me briefly while I take you on a journey toward today’s Native American Day story.
STEP ONE: An arrogant sense of Manifest Destiny often accompanied many 19th and 20th Century concepts of American culture, history, and pride. An inescapable irony in our own 21st Century, is that Hermon MacNeil and many of his contemporary sculptors placed many Native American images at the center stage of the historical and allegorical sculptures of World Fairs from 1890 to 1915. That is quite visible throughout this website. I am beginning to find that MacNeil’s embrace of Native American themes in his sculpting, especially from 1895-1905, still offers us lessons more than a century later in understanding culture, anthropology and life values.
STEP TWO: Today is Native American Day in South Dakota, my home for the last 31 years. I understand that California is the only other state celebrating a Native American Day. “In 1989 the South Dakota legislature unanimously passed legislation proposed by Governor George S. Mickelson to proclaim 1990 as the “Year of Reconciliation” between Native Americans and whites, to change Columbus Day to Native American Day and to make Martin Luther King’s birthday into a state holiday. Since 1990 the second Monday in October has been celebrated as Native American Day in South Dakota.” [ Wikipedia: Native American Day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_Day ] In April 1993, Governor George Mickelson, a friendly giant of a man, and eight civic leaders were killed in a tragic plane crash in Iowa. His death was a great loss to this state and to hopes of Reconciliation. We still observe the day, even if it is in a subdued fashion.
STEP THREE: I am Daniel Neil Leininger, founding webmaster of HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com. I am a Caucasian descendant of Scottish German stock. My maternal grandfather. Thomas Henry McNeil (1860-1932), was a cousin to Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947). My mother, Ollie McNeil Leininger, always called Hermon MacNeil her “Uncle Hermon.” My middle name, Neil, was my mother’s gift. It reminds me of my heritage.
STEP FOUR: In researching the sculpture of MacNeil in recent years, I have developed a growing sense of “historical irony” in his placement of Native American images to symbolize the vitality of American expansion westward through his cultural era of Manifest Destiny. His choice moves against the strong current of self-absorption in contemporary cultures, both his and ours.
MacNeil's sculpture design for the Award Medals at the Pan American Exhibitition, Buffalo, NY 1901 (reverse). Note the shields with South and North American continents
EXAMPLES 1-5: See photos above:
EXAMPLE 6: MacNeil made a Pan American Exhibition Award Medallion with an indigenous North American and an indigenous South American sharing a Peace Pipe. Probably a corrupted mix of Native images, but it is a allegory, a visually symbolic representation carrying a larger meaning.
THE STORY OF MacNEIL and CHIEF MANUELITO:
MacNeil never met Chief Manuelito. Two years after his death, MacNeil made a statue of him using only a photograph supplied by trader C. N. Cotton. The year was 1895. Thirty years earlier, Manuelito had survived the “scorched-earth” missions of the U.S. Army under Gen. James H. Carleton and Col. Kit Carson, the “Long Walk” (a 320 mile forced march of men women and children through the deserts) to Bosque Rodondo, and the imprisonment of Native peoples there for four years.
Navajo Chief Manuelito - taken between 1868 and his death in 1893. He was a war Chief of the 1860. (photo Credit: ASU- Denver Public Library).
MacNeil made the statue tribute out of available materials. He built a wooden frame, a wire mesh surface and sculpted cement around it forming an eight foot two inch tall image of the Chief wrapped in a bright native blanket. His techniques seem to mirror the many ‘staff plaster’ statues he made for the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. He was visiting the southwest that summer with friends Hamlin Garland (writer) and C.F. Browne (artist) to experience the vanishing Native culture at the urging od E. E. Ayers and others.
As the story goes, after he finished he asked Cotton if the piece was acceptable. Cotton left and brought in a group of older Native women to enter the canvas enclosure where MacNeil had setup a open-air studio workshop. After much weeping, the women, one of whom was Manuelito’s wife, came out obviously moved by the experience of being with the piece.
Edward E. Ayers was the benefactor of the three artists who urged them to make the trip. A former member of the First California Cavalry Volunteers of the U.S. Army in AZ during the Civil War and the Native American oppressions of the 1860s,Ayers was stationed at the Cerro Colorado Silver Mine (now a ghost town) south of Tuscon in Pima County AZ. He was in charge of 14 men who guarded the silver mine from robbers. While there he happened on a copy of William H. Prescott’s Conquest of Mexico placed there by the mine’s owner Col. Samuel Colt, of revolver-fame. Ayers devoured the book repeatedly and began his life-long insatiable interest in Native American literature, manuscripts, and culture. He became an American business magnate, who is “best remembered for the endowments of his substantial collections of books and original manuscripts from Native American and colonial-era history and ethnology, which were donated to the Newberry Library and Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.” [ Wikipedia ] (Editors Note: Ayers passion for understanding and preserving Native American culture continues into the 21st Century through the legacy of his estate now bequeathed to Newberry Library, Field Museum and related archieves.)
One hundred years after MacNeil make the trip and completed the piece, Joe Di Gregorio, (Gallup businessman and grocer), stepped in to rescue the Manuelito statue. It was badly needing repair and being stored in a warehouse going up for sale. Leslie Linchicum of the Albuquerque Journal relays this account in her March 2010 story:
“Longtime Gallup grocer Joe Di Gregorio and his wife, Christine, own the statue. They took custody after the building’s owner, in negotiations to sell to an out-of state buyer in 1983, turned to Di Gregorio and whispered, “Don’t let the bastards take the Indian.” Di Gregorio didn’t. He agreed to take custody of Manuelito and promised to keep him in Gallup.” [“Navajo Leader Stands Tall” Albuquerque Journal, March 11, 2010]
Now 116 years after MacNeil’s visit, McKinley County Fine Arts Commission in Gallup, NM is restoring the nearly 9 foot fragile artwork that MacNeil built in an outdoor tent. “Carolyn Milligan, chairwoman of the … Commission, has estimated that it will cost $25,000 to $38,000 to restore the sculpture, which has deteriorated from a hundred years of rail yard soot, showers with a fire hose and a well-meaning but inept repainting.”
Milligan continues, “The 1,000-pound piece is fragile, …. Wherever it stands, she said, it will probably attract crowds.” “It’s really quite a commanding piece,” Milligan said. “And it’s for the people.”
BEST WORDS OF THE DAY:“Don’t let the bastards take the Indian.” MacNeil and Manuelito would probably smile to hear those words. While virtually all of the ‘staff plaster’ sculptures of the World Fairs have crumbled to dust, Manuelito still stands tall.
After all, he does belong to the people, centuries of people, both Native and otherwise.
THAT’s WHY I BELIEVE THAT: MacNeil’s embrace of Native American themes in his sculpting from 1895-1905 still offers us lessons in culture, anthropology and life values for the 21st Century.
2.) William Wroth’s “Long Walk” to Bosque Redondo also provides poignant insight into this period of the United States management of Native American peoples and the life of Chief Manuelito who was part of that “Long Walk” and signed the treaty of 1868 that sought to restore Navajo lands after the disastrous interventions of the US government.
3.) “The Long Walk” A Ten (10) Part video story of the Navajo “Fearing Time” accounting atrocities against the Navajo people from 1863 to 1868. Researched and produced with support of the George S. and Delores Dore’ Eccles Foundation and the Pacific Mountain Network. Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10.
4.) “The Long Walk” For a Navajo perspective view this video by Nanebah, whose great-great grandmother survived “The Long Walk”.
6.) Leslie Linthicum, staff writer for the Albuquerque Journal, gives a delightful article, “Navajo Leader Stands Tall”. It offers historical irony from our 21st Century on attitudes toward Native American culture through her story of the ‘management’ and ‘preservation’ of MacNeil’s iconic statue of Chief Manuelito.
Images of Hermon A. MacNeil’s sculpted medallion for the 1901 World’s Fair are as coveted today as they were 110 years ago. Here are three examples:
EXAMPLE #1 from 2010.
Below, a recent You Tube posting shares a trio of MacNeil’s beautiful Medals in Bronze, Silver and Gilt finishes. Thanks to Will of the American Association of Young Numismatists (AAYN) [See note #1 below], for making this video of these rare MacNeil medallions. Thanks as well, to website contributor and friend, Gibson Shell of Kansas City for his alert eye in finding this first beautiful example.
Mellin's Food Company of Boston, a maker of 'baby formua', touts their wars with the MacNeil image at center stage of their ad. "Baby formula' was a radically new idea in 1901. Their product had to compete with mother's breast milk, an already accepted product with a much longer history. The Gold Medal from the Pan American Exposition gave their new product a greater recognition for quality and acceptance.
EXAMPLE #2 from 1901.
Manufacturers were so proud of winning the Gold Medal at the Pan American Exhibition that they displayed it prominently on their advertisements. Here in the ad below, the Mellin Food Company of Boston, a maker of ‘baby formula’, touts their wares with the MacNeil image at center stage of their ad. “Baby formula’ was a radically new idea in 1901. Their product had to compete with mother’s breast milk, an already accepted product with a much longer history. The Gold Medal from the Pan American Exposition gave their new product a greater recognition for quality and acceptance.
EXAMPLE #3 from 1901.
Here is another Gold Medal winner. F. R. Pierson a horticulturist operating a nursery and greenhouse at Tarrytown-on-Hudson, N.Y., won Eight Gold Medals at the 1901 Buffalo World’s Fair. His advertisement states that this is, “the largest number awarded any firm on the Flori-culture Department.” The ad enumerates the company’s prize-winning selections of Rhododendrons, evergreens, roses, cannas, bay trees, fig-leaf palms and hydrangeas. AND of course it bears MacNeil’s Pan American Exposition Medallion prominently at the top corners of the advertisement. [CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE]
CLICK TO ENLARGE - The W. R. Pierson Company's advertisement offers another example of the esteem with which manufacturers and businesses held the Gold Medal competitions over a century ago.
MACNEIL’S MEDALS
These MacNeil sculpture medals were made by the Gorham Manufacturing Company of Boston, a quality producer of fine silver since 1832.
CLOSE UP VIEWS.
Pictured below are near-life-size images of Hermon A. MacNeil’s sculpture design for the Award Medals at the Pan American Exposition, held at Buffalo, NY in 1901. All award medals were struck from the same design whether in Bronze, Silver or Gold. These below are silver medals.
MacNeil's sculpture design for the Award Medals at the Pan American Exposition, Buffalo, NY 1901 (front)
MacNeil's sculpture design for the Award Medals at the Pan American Exposition, Buffalo, NY 1901 (reverse). All award medals were struck from the same design whether in Bronze, silver or gold. These are silver medals.
“PHYSICAL LIBERTY” 1904.
The buffalo image on the Obverse face of this medallion bears a resemblance to a MacNeil work he made three years later. That larger-than-life sculpture at the 1904 World’s Fair in Saint Louis, Missouri was known as “Physical Liberty” (see below). It stood at the top of the Cascade at that Exposition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. Ironically, MacNeil’s allegorical figure used Native American images to symbolize the vitality of American expansion westward.
HISTORICAL IRONY?
A near arrogant sense of Manifest Destiny often accompanied such 19th Century concepts of American pride. An inescapable irony today, in our own 21st Century, is that MacNeil and many of his contemporary sculptors placed such Native American images at the center stage of these World Fairs. MacNeil’s embrace of Native American themes in his sculpting from 1895-1905 still offers us lessons in culture, anthropology and life values more than a century later.
2.) William Wroth’s “Long Walk” to Bosque Redondoalso provides poignant insight into this period of the United States management of Native American peoples and the life of Chief Manuelito who was part of that “Long Walk” and signed the treaty of 1868 that sought to restore Navajo lands after the disastrous interventions of the US government.
3.) “The Long Walk” A Ten (10) Part video story of the Navajo “Fearing Time” accounting atrocities against the Navajo people from 1863 to 1868. Researched and produced with support of the George S. and Delores Dore’ Eccles Foundation and the Pacific Mountain Network. Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10.
4.) “The Long Walk” For a Navajo perspective view this video by Nanebah, whose great-great grandmother survived “The Long Walk”.
6.) Leslie Linthicum, staff writer for the Albuquerque Journal, gives a delightful article, “Navajo Leader Stands Tall”. It offers historical irony from our 21st Century on attitudes toward Native American culture through her story of the ‘management’ and ‘preservation’ of MacNeil’s iconic statue of Chief Manuelito.
NOTE #1:
The American Association of Young Numismatists (AAYN) is an association dedicated to educating and impassioning young people about the hobby of coin collecting. We hope our videos help spark your interest in numismatics.
Four past-presidents of theNational Sculpture Societycongratulate Daniel Chester French. Hermon MacNeil is 4th from the left as James Earle Frazer, Adolph Alex Weinman, and Herbert Adams, celebrate this Award of the first National Sculpture Society Medal. [MacNeil is 4th from left as Frazer, Weinman and Adams congratulate Daniel Chester French.]
Laura Gardin Frazer & James Earle Frazer a married sculptor couple as were Hermon & Carol B. MacNeil. (Photo Credit: NY State Morgan Horse Society)
The medal was crafted by Laura Gardin Faszer, as depicted in the earlier segments of this complete film, entitled the “Medal Maker”. Originally, the film was silent. Nearly seventy years later in 1997, it was restored and reissued by Medallic Arts Company [ www.medallic.com ] and Mike Craven Productions with narration and additional color footage. This reissue is what can be viewed here.
In this rare film from 1929, sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser is recorded creating the mold for the most prestigious medal awarded in America. Fraser was the first woman to design a coin for the U.S. Treasury, and she won several sculpture medals of her own. Her works include a double statue of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on horseback, and relief panels at the West Point library. The original film has been reformatted, and is in color with black-and-white footage. Narration is provided by sculptor Elizabeth Jones, who is a former Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint.
Part FOUR of the “Medal Maker” video begins with Daniel Chester French on screen sculpting a horse. It switches to a view of French being presented the NSS Medalion by Adolph Alfred Weiman as James Earle Frazer, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, and Herbert Adams look on.
Pictured in Part THREE of the video is this photo of a Banquet on April, 9 1937 of the Society of Medalists – at Medallic Art Company, where this film was shown for the first time to a gathering of sculptors. I have marked in red a face that resemblesHermon Atkins MacNeil. [Apologies Uncle Hermon if that is not you. webmaster].
The host, Clyde Trees, owner of Medallic Arts Company, had hope that two dozen sculptors attend. When seventy-five (75) accepted his invitation and the little shops at 210 East 51st Street in downtown Manhattan were overwhelmed. Work benches, tables , and presses of the Medallic Arts Company were moved aside to make room for the gathering. A Commemorative Medal bearing the profile image of Augustus Saint Gaudens was struck by Mr. Trees as a ‘party favor’ for the occasion. Commemorative Medal
Highlighted for visitors is the complete film, “The Medal Maker.” First shown to the Society of Medalists in 1929, it features multi-award winning coin and medal designer, sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser in her famous New York Studio in 1929 creating the models for the Special Medal of Honor for the National Sculpture Society, America’s highest sculptural award. Every step of creation and production is shown, including sketching, preparing background plate, transferring the drawing and applying clay pellets to the model, foundry casting of the pattern, die making and striking the medal at Medallic Art Company. This exceptional movie is narrated by Elizabeth Jones, sculptor, and former United States Mint Chief Engraver, from her studio in Philadelphia.
Sculptures that Hermon A. MacNeil’s exhibited for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
SunVow1-689GS
Image 1 of 15
Photo Credit: Gib Shell
The above works that Hermon A. MacNeil’s exhibited in Buffalo for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition are listed in:
“The Catalogue of the Exhibition of Fine Arts.” Pan-American Exposition: Buffalo, 1901. (p. 45-46; p. 59).
pp. 45-4. H. A. MacNeil:
#1613. The Sun Vow – Silver Medal, Paris Exposition, 1900.
#1614. The Moqui Runner – Silver Medal, Paris Exposition, 1900 (Lent by E. E. Ayer, Esq)
#1615. Bust — Agnese
#1616. Bust – [Lent by C. F. Browne, Esq.]
p. 59.
MacNeil, H. A., 145 West 55th Street, New York, N. Y. (II*) 1613-1616
*II – indicates MacNeil exhibited in “Group II – Sculpture, including medals and cameos” p. 49.
Some of these people mentioned in that exhibition record were to be long term colleagues, friends and patrons of MacNeil’s art and career.
Charles Francis Brownewas a painter and friend who accompanied Hermon MacNeil and author, Hamlin Garland, to the southwest in the summer of 1895. They wanted to gain direct experience of American Indians to inform their art. What the trio found reflected in their respective painting, sculpture and writing.
MacNeil’s subsequent sculptures of Native Americans after that summer of 1895 continued a cultural focus that began with his friendship and sculpting of Black Pipe, the Sioux warrior. He first met Black Pipe at the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The Sioux modeled forMacNeil and later worked in his studio for over a year.
Edward Everett Ayerswas an art patron to both MacNeil and Browne. He had been a Civil War Calvary officer stationed in the southwestern United States. He became a lumberman who made a fortune selling railroad ties and telephone poles. He urged MacNeil to travel to see the vanishing West of the American Indian. He became an arts benefactor whose art collections are now housed by the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as, the Newberry Library.
All the above is but a small part of the history woven into this simple Exhibition catalogue entry from 1901. More later on Macneil’s mysterious “Agnese.”
Between 1893 and 1905 Hermon Atkins MacNeil and his sculptures were involved in four World’s Fairs. The Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York (1901) was the second of these events. Popularly known as the 1901 World’s Fair in Buffalo NY, over 8 Million people attended the exhibition.
The most unusual aspect of the Pan-American was the color scheme of its buildings. Unlike the pristine design of the “White City,” the architectural plan of the Pan-American was to build a “Rainbow City.” The buildings were done in a Spanish Renaissance style and were colored in hues of red, blue, green, and gold. The Electric Tower, the focal point of the fair, was colored deep green with details of cream white, blue, and gold. At night, thousands of electric lights outlined the buildings.
"The Sun Vow" (photo courtesy of Gib Shell)
Hermon Atkins MacNeil's "The Moqui Runner" (The Moqui Prayer for Rain -- The Returning of the Snakes) 1896, cast 1897.
In the year 1900, MacNeil returned to the United States after three years in Rome and a fourth back in Paris. He settled in New York City. Within a year, MacNeil set up a home and an adjoining studio in College Point, Long Island (now Flushing, Queens ). His studio became his work place for the next four decades.
MacNeil’s “Sun Vow” and the “Moqui Runner” were both exhibited at the 1901 Fair. The “Sun Vow” had received a silver medal at the Paris exhibition of 1900. It was exhibited again at the Columbian Exposition of 1904 — the Saint Louis World’s Fair. As the years passed, it would become his best known work. (Webmaster’s Note: It recently graced the cover of the 2010Denver Art Museum publication, “Shaping the West: American Sculptors of the 19th Century”)
At the Buffalo Exhibition he was asked to do the pediment sculptures for the Anthropological Building, as well as a grouping known as “Despotic Age.” Craven described the work as follows:
The spirit of despotism with ruthless cruelty spreads her wings over the people of the Despotic Age, crushing them with the burden of war and conquest and draging along the victims of rapine (plunder), a half savage figure sounds a spiral horn in a spirit of wild emotion. (Craven, SIA, p. 518)
MacNeil’s sculpture design for the Award Medals at the Pan American Exhibition, Buffalo, NY 1901 (front) [ photo credits: CCya at http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=25738
MacNeil designed the official gold medal (displayed here in silver) struck in celebration of the Pan American Exhibition. His commissioned design bears a youthful woman standing beside a buffalo on the obverse side. She represents the triumph of the intellect over physical power. The reverse depicts two Indians with a sharing a peace pipe. One, a North American Indian, extends the extends the pipe to the South American Indian. Craven notes that
MacNeil's sculpture design for the Award Medals at the Pan American Exhibition, Buffalo, NY 1901 (reverse). All award medals were struck from the same design whether in Bronze, silver or gold. These are silver medals.
MacNeil chose to portray the theme of “Pan-American friendship through images of the red man, not the white man.” (Craven, SIA, P. 519). We can also observe that this choice extended MacNeil’s selection of native people into a second continent. [Photo credits CCya at http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=25738]
President William McKinley was assassinated at the fair. On Sept. 6, 1901, Leon Czolgosz shot President McKinley in the Temple of Music, a pavilion of the Buffalo, New York, Pan-American Exposition. Eight days later, on Sept. 14, McKinley was dead. We do not know if MacNeil was present at the Fair when the President was attacked. In some sense, President McKinley’s overshadowed the rest of the Exposition. Buffalo promoted the event in order to be seen as a prosperous, modern, technologically-advanced city,. Instead Buffalo became seen as the city of the assassination.
McKinley making his last public speech before he was assassinated, Buffalo, New York, September 5, 1901. (His pose in this photo resembles that of MacNeil's statue of him in 1904). (Credit: Frances B. Johnson-Ohio Historical Society-AL00501)
In the years following The Buffalo Exhibition, a series of important commissions would raise him to prominence as a major American sculptor. One of those was, oddly enough, was the McKinley Monument Statue and Plaza at the front of the Ohio State Capitol Building where McKinley served two terms as the governor of the state.
The only remaining building of the fair is the New York State Pavilion. It is now the home of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. (see map) A boulder marking the site of McKinley’s assassination was placed in a grassy median on Fordham Drive
1901 Pan-American Exposition links: (active as of this posting date)
Here is ONE place to go to see sculpture of Hermon A. MacNeil & his students. Located in cities from east to west coast, found indoors and out, public and private, these creations point us toward the history and values that root Americans.
Daniel Neil Leininger ~ HAMacNeil@gmail.com
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WE DESIRE YOUR DIGITAL PHOTOS – Suggestions
1. Take digital photos of the work from all angles, including setting.
2. Take close up photos of details that you like
3. Look for MacNeil’s signature. Photograph it too! See examples above.
4. Please, include a photo of you & others beside the work.
5. Tell your story of adventure. It adds personal interest.
6. Send photos to ~ Webmaster at: HAMacNeil@gmail.com
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