Chief Manuelito Sculpture
Archive for Statue
Dec
21
The death of Carol Brooks MacNeil and Hermon MacNeil’s remarriage.
Posted by: | CommentsCecelia W. Muench MacNeil
In 1944 Carol Louise Brooks MacNeil died after extended illness.
During her months of declining health, she was nursed at home by her family and a home health nurse named, Cecelia Weick Muench, RN.
Cecelia Weick had served in the US Army as a battlefield Nurse during the World War. Caring for wound soldiers in war zones, she was no stranger to trauma and suffering.
As a young girl, her father taught her to appreciate art and took her to museums. He introduced her to “The Sun Vow” at the MMA. He told her that Hermon MacNeil was a “great American sculptor”. So she knew the name and fame of the Sculptors Macneil all her adult life.
So when an opportunity came for Cecelia to enter the MacNeil home and care for Carol during her dying months, she was more than just “another nurse.” She was a battle-hardened R.N. who could appreciate the works and careers of these two sculptors as their lives were parting in the months of Carol’s dying.
She must have brought a nurse’s compassion and an art lovers appreciation with her into this family of sculptors.
In her later years, Cecelia described herself by saying:
“I am familiar, too familiar, with death and dying, with the totality that is the human condition.” 1
She had a front row seat to Hermon’s lived-grief over the loss of his “Carrie.” But as Carol’s condition worsened, the needs exceeded the home-care options of the day. She was admitted to the Jamacia (Queens) Hospital.
Eventually, Carol Brooks MacNeil died there on June 22, 1944.
With the death of Carol MacNeil on June 22, 1944, the fifty-year partnership of the “Sculptors MacNeil” ended. Their connection which began in the “White City” of the Chicago Worlds Fair, continued through their years of training in Rome and Paris, maturing in Queens, NY, during the four decades they shared their College Point Studio and home.
For the next two years Hermon MacNeil continued to live alone in his College Point home. Next door was to the stone Studio building where he and Carol had sculpted together through the years of their marriage. Hermon must have felt an emptiness without Carol in his life, home and studio.
Postcard of MacNeil studio in College Point. From the webmaster’s collection.
Two 2nd Marriages
Hermon married Cecilia W. Muench in 1945. Cecelia was nearly 30 years younger than Hermon. Both of them had been recently widowed.
After serving in the World War, Cecelia Muench had married and continued her career as a RN. In 1940 a snapshot of her life was captured in the 1940 U.S. Census. She was 43 years old living in Queens, New York, with Karl, her husband, two daughters, Dorothy (18), Sarah (17) and a son, Karl (13). Her mother, Anna Weick also lived with the family.
Cecilia Weick first heard the name of “Hermon Atkins MacNeil” in 1909 on her 12th birthday. To celebrate, her father took her to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ascending into the American Wing, they sat down on a bench near MacNeil’s sculpture group of “The Sun Vow.” Sixty-four years later, Cecelia described that sculpture this way:
My own grandson in front of “The Sun Vow” at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
The Sun Vow portrays two Indians, elder and younger, chief and future brave, grandfather and grandson. The grandfather, his body still subtle and strong, is weary just the same. The viewer knows that the chieftain’s feathered head-dress … will never again be worn. The old Indian holds this symbol of authority on his lap as he presses the young Indian to him. The grandchild holds an arrowless bow, symbolizing the celebration of coming of age in the in Indian lore but transcending the culture of any age. For when the young brave is able to shoot an arrow into the son, far enough awayso that its decent to earth passes unseen, then he has attained manhood.
After at least five minutes of silence my father commented.
“Ceil, the man who created this work is surely one of the greatest American Sculptors. Never, never forget his name.”
I am still a romantic. My father’s words were to be part of my destiny. 37 years later I married Hermon Atkins MacNeil.
The photo on the cover shows the original plaster model of Hermon Atkins MacNeil’s “The Sun Vow”, executed in Rome while the sculptor was on a Reinhart scholarship.
Cecelia told this story of her 12th birthday in opening paragraphs of an article that she published in 1974, under the title, “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil.” 1 Two additional articles completed the series of her remembrances.
Sculptor Americanus
MORE from this series of articles by Cecelia Weick MacNeil will be told in the coming months of the New Year.
So return
here
to
https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/
for
MORE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES:
- Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (First in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, April 1974, pp. 10-13, 54.
- Lynn H. Burnett. (Editor’s Comments:)“Hermon Atkins MacNeil in Historical Perspective”. The Antiques Journal April 1974, pp. 4, 5, 48.
- Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (Second in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, May 1974, pp. 28-31.
- Cecelia MacNeil with Dr. Allen Nestle. “Sculptor Americanus: Hermon Atkins MacNeil”. (Third in a Series of Three), The Antiques Journal, June 1974, pp. 32-35, 51.
Aug
13
A 1894 Sculpture of Charles F. Browne ~ ~ ~ by Hermon A. MacNeil.
Posted by: | CommentsOut of public view, deep in the archives of the Chicago Art Institute rests a 127 year old bust of Charles F. Browne, American artist.
Cast in Bronze with a dark brown patina, the piece is signed on pedestal; “MacNeil ’94” / “American Art Bronze Foundry. J. Berchem. / Chicago”
Charles Francis Browne, MacNeil Colleague and American Artist.
The subject was Hermon MacNeil’s colleague, frontier traveling companion, and studio mate in their Marquette Building studio. The piece came out of their years in Chicago after the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
The archival piece enters its third century of history “OFF VIEW” at the archives of the Art Institute of Chicago. Here we offered it exclusively to You, —“Friends of Hermon Atkins MacNeil” — & followers of ‘HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com’. ENJOY !!
1895. With Hamlin Garland as their guide, the pair rode by train and horse back to the south west territories of the Navajo, Hopi, (Moqui). MacNeil recalled years later, “We found Indians a plenty and perhaps because I was keenly interested in them I was in heaven and I flared to a high pitch, working from sunrise to dark. …”
“Browne painted murals for the Children’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition and became an instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago’s rapidly growing school.” 2
Hamilin Garland and Browne were “double” brothers-in-law having married sisters of Lorado Taft, the chief sculptor of the Exposition. Taft was the brother of both of their wives. They all along with MacNeil were part of the Eagles Nest, a summer artist colony in Oregon, Illinois. Browne was a founder of the summer group.
Portrait of Charles F. Browne by H. A. MacNeil 1894. Art Institute of Chicago. [Signed on pedestal; “MacNeil ’94” / “American Art Bronze Foundry. J. Berchem. / Chicago”] 1
The dating of the bust of C. F. Browne precedes their venture to the Southwest Territory but documents the shared years of their early careers in the 19th century.
Writing in 1943, MacNeil recalls these years in Chicago:
“I took a small studio in Chicago and tried to see if I could make a go of it. C. F. Browne, painter, was also stranded there and I invited him to share a studio with me. During that year (evenings) I was asked to teach sculpture and drawing in the school of the Art Institute and also had the good fortune to have four bas-reliefs to do illustrating the life of Pere Marquette.” [ MacNeil, Autobiography
MacNeil’s four bas-reliefs of the life of Pere Marquette still make frame the four-door entrance of the building
The Marquette Building panels after cleaning efforts several years ago sparkle with history and beauty at the 140 South Dearborn Street entrance.
Chicago Architecture celebrated the building renovation and mentioned the 126 year old sculpture panels”
“At the main entrance are four bronze relief sculptures by Hermon A. MacNeil illustrating Father Marquette and Louis Joliet’s travels. They depict the pair launching their canoes, meeting Native Americans, arriving at the Chicago River, and interring Marquette’s body. On the revolving doors are kick plates with tomahawks and push plates with panther heads designed by Edward Kemeys (of the Art Institute lions fame). The vestibule features French and Catholic motifs like fleurs-de-lis and the cross.”
~ ~ ~ ~ Chicago Art Institute Notations for this work ~ ~ ~ ~
Portrait of Charles F. Browne by H. A. MacNeil 1894.
Portrait of Charles Francis Browne. Date: 1894
Artist: Hermon Atkins MacNeil. American, 1866–1947
ABOUT THIS ARTWORK: Currently Off View
SOURCES:
- Art Institute of Chicago. Portrait of Charles Frances Brown by Hermon MacNeil. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/102974/portrait-of-charles-francis-browne
- See Also: M Christine Schwartz Collection. https://schwartzcollection.com/artist/charles-francis-browne/
Jul
20
Hermon MacNeil’s “Chief Manuelito” has returned home. He has a completely restored look and frame.
[CLICK Next arrows below >> to View 10 more Photos]
Manuelito-0-native-American-plaster-sculpture-after-conservation-768x1024
MacNeil’s original 1895 Chief Manuelito as he rested above the doors of C.N. Cotton’s Trading Post in Gallup, New Mexico
During his 127 years of standing in Gallup, New Mexico, MacNeil’s 8’4″ cement constructed “Chief” was:
Chief Manuelito of the Navajo (circa 2003)
Commissioned by trader, C. N. Cotton,- Sculpted under a tent cover in the desert,
- Sculpted of cement,
- Built around a wood and wire armature,
- Wrapped in the colors of the Chief’s blanket,
- Standing above the entrance of the trading post,
- Weather-beaten,
- Sun-baked,
- Often repainted,
- Moved awkwardly,
- Visited by Navajo Elders and young children,
- Becoming an icon of the Navajo people,
- Hidden from sale to a grocery conglomerate,
- Stored in a warehouse by the Cotton family,
- Donated to McKinley County, N.M. at age 115 years,
- Approved for restoration with County funds,
- Professionally restored by EVERGREENE Architectural Arts,
- The new centerpiece of the Courthouse Annex,
- Given a new century as an “Icon” on the people of Gallop, N.M.
Evergreene Arts employee patiently restoring Hermon MacNeil’s 1895 desert figure of Chief Manuelito.
MacNeil’s “Chief Manuelito of the Navajo” as restored by McKinley County for new Courthouse Annex.
MacNeil sculpted a cement statue of Chief Manuelito for trader C. N. Cotton under a tent in the dessert. His subsequent sculptures of Native Americans after that summer of 1895 continued his cultural interest. That fascination 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 for MacNeil and later worked in his studio for over a year before MacNeil’s trip with Garland.
AN AMAZING STORY OF RESTORATION:
EVERGREENE Architectural Arts of Brooklyn N.Y. is the enterprise that restored this piece. Their story of this project with photos of the elements of the project are duplicated here from their website. 1
City Hall, Gallup, NMChief Manuelito served as an important Navajo leader in the mid-19th century against the encroachment of the U. S. Government. Kit Carson’s scorched earth campaign left many native people starving though until they were forced to turn themselves in. Throughout this period, Manuelito led attacks and remained among the last to surrender. He remained a popular leader, advocating for perseverance in the native culture and advancement through education. He is represented here by the artist Hermon Atkins MacNeil, who created several other notable sculptures of Native American subjects and themes.
The Chief Manuelito sculpture was created using wood, plaster, and paint. Past cleaning efforts had caused significant damage. Cracks in the gypsum and plaster layers were associated with the movement of the wooden armature. The sculpture had areas of loss, and areas of visible previous repairs.
FOOTNOTES:
- Restoration – https://evergreene.com/projects/chief-manuelito-sculpture/
- History of Manuelito, Navajo Chief. Read more at: https://www.aaanativearts.com/manuelitio-navajo
Archive for October, 2011 posting on Manuelito’s return
Update ~ MacNeil’s “Chief Manuelito” ~ Has Returned!
Posted by: | Comments
GOOD NEWS ! SURPRISE ~ Hermon MacNeil’s Chief Manuelito is back!
Yesterday’s post about MacNeil and Manuelito generated considerable interest and news from Gallup, NM.
Carolyn Milligan saw our Native American Day story and responded:
“The restored Manuelito has been installed. Early tomorrow I’ll see and visit him. There are a few details to conclude but I will send you images of the restoration. Manuelito[‘s] dignity and presence have been skillfully restored. You will be pleased with the result.” … Give me a few days to reply to you and to send you images of Manuelito installed in his new location. You will then have before and after images of Manuelito to include on your website.
Artist Julian Scott’s portrait of Manuelito‑ Chief of the Navajos [Source: americangallery.wordpress.com]
In his seventy-five years of life, the Chief was driven, accused, abused, enraged, betrayed, wise, proud and a thousand other emotions that a leader might feel in a war of cultures. All these experiences exacted a price from his life and energy.
Harrison Lapahle’s website offers a brief history of Manuelito. He describes the warrior’s closing years with a sorrow and painful candor that recalls the similar sorrow of his Navajo Nation.
“He spent the last ten years of his life unhappy, certain that he had done the wrong thing by encouraging education, and by taking back all the livestock stolen by the young raiders of the tribe. Whisky was small comfort for his misery, but he drank it anyway. All around him his people still believed his words “Education is the ladder,” and they sent more and more of their children to school. They followed Manuelito even though he refused to lead them any longer.
A delegation of Navajo representatives who traveled to Washington, D.C., in 1874 to discuss the provisions of the 1868 treaty with President Ulysses S. Grant. The delegation consisted of (left to right, front row): Carnero Mucho, Mariano, Juanita (Manuelito’s wife), Manuelito, Manuelito Segundo, and Tiene-su-se Standing: “Wild” Hank Sharp (Anglo), Ganado Mucho, Barbas Hueros, Agent Arny, Kentucky Mountain Bill (Anglo), Cabra Negra, Cayatanita, Narbona Primero, and Jesus Arviso, interpreter.
He was a disheartened man, seventy-five years old in 1893, when he became very ill. Measles and then pneumonia brought the weakened old man to his deathbed.
In his fever, the years seemed to fade as he watched the sunlight play in small patches on the hogan wall. He saw the faces around him, his friends and family. He thought he heard Zarcillos Largos say, “Come, on the path of beauty you will restore your strength.” Manuelito closed his eyes in peace.
His death saddened many Navajos who had found strength in his strength. But his life had given his people a new trail to follow, and they walked it proudly, as Manuelito had walked.” [ http://www.lapahie.com/manuelito.cfm ]
A wonderful surprise! We await the return of the Chief to Gallup.
Seeing Chief Manuelito with his ‘dignity’ back, will prepare us all for the 21st Century.
Uncle Hermon would smile.
NOTES:
- History of Manuelito, Navajo Chief. Read more at: https://www.aaanativearts.com/manuelitio-navajo
- Navajo Chief Manuelito (1818–1893) was one of the principal war chiefs of the Diné people before, during and after the Long Walk Period. His name means Little Manuel in Spanish.
- As any Navajo, he was known by different names depending upon context. He was known as Ashkii Diyinii (Holy Boy), Dahaana Baadaané (Son-in-Law of Late Texan), Hastiin Chʼilhaajiní (“Black Weeds”) and as Nabááh Jiłtʼaa (War Chief, or Warrior Grabbed Enemy) to other Diné. After his first battle at age 17, he was given the name Hashkeh Naabaah, meaning Angry Warrior.
- Read more at: https://www.aaanativearts.com/manuelitio-navajo
Jun
01
Judge Thomas Burke Memorial – “He quelled anti-Asian Rioters 135 years ago in Seattle!”
Posted by: | Comments
Judge Thomas Burke Monument, Seattle, Washington by Hermon A. MacNeil
1930 ~ Judge Thomas Burke Memorial by MacNeil
In February 1886, Judge Thomas Burke addressed an angry mob rioting against Chinese immigrants.
(The Judge’s public appeal occurred in the same year that MacNeil was being born over 3,000 miles away in Everett, Massachusetts), [ 135 years later, Anti-Asian bigotry and Violence against Asians appear to be nothing new . ]
“Judge Thomas Burke played a key role in calming Seattle during the anti-Chinese riots, which occurred in February 1886. Addressing a hostile audience, Burke called upon his considerable stump speaking abilities — one commentator said the Burke “had the golden gift of eloquence which has been likened to that of Patrick Henry” — to point out that minority rights must be respected. Burke also told his listeners that they should be concerned with the city’s reputation. The riots were settled by cooler heads and by the intervention of the 14th U.S. Infantry.” [Source: Thomas Burke (railroad builder)]
Forty-four years later,
Hermon A. MacNeil
was commissioned to sculpt a fitting memorial to this heroic, civic pioneer of Seattle, Washington.
The Memorial to Judge Thomas Burke (designed in partnership with famous architect Carl F. Gould* also an 1898-1903 student at École des Beaux Arts in Paris) exhibits MacNeil’s classic Beaux Arts design and allegorical figures.
Beneath the bronze bas relief of Burke’s profile, the engraved stone pilaster reads: “Patriot, Jurist, Orator, Friend, Patron of Education, First of every Movement for the Advancement of the City and State, Seattle’s Foremost and Best Beloved Citizen.”
Judge Thomas Burke
1930 ~ Thomas Burke
— Remembered as a Railroad Builder
“Burke came to Seattle in 1875 and
formed a law partnership with John J. McGilvra; he soon married McGilvra’s daughter Caroline.[2] He established himself as a civic activist: one of his first projects was to raise funds for a planked walkway from roughly the corner of First and Pike (now site of Pike Place Market) through Belltown to Lake Union.[7]
Cartoon of Thomas Burke, railroad man
He served as probate judge
1876-1880[8] and as chief justice of the Washington Territorial Supreme Court in 1888.[3]
“Irish as a clay pipe,”[9] and well liked by early Seattle’s largely Irish working class, as a lawyer Burke was well known for collecting large fees from his wealthy clients and providing free legal services for the poor. [Source: Thomas Burke (railroad builder)]
With a open-heart for the poor and immigrants, Thomas Burke rose not only in the legal profession, but also as a probate judge and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Washington Territory. He remained a civic and national leader until his dying breathe at age 76.
“Thomas Burke collapsed on December 4, 1925, while addressing the board of the Carnegie Endowment in New York City. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, caught him as he fell. He wrote that Burke died “in the midst of an eloquent and unfinished sentence which expressed the high ideals of international conduct.” [Source: Thomas Burke (railroad builder)]
Thomas Burke – – – A man well remembered (Obituary HERE)
Hermon MacNeil – – – A Sculptor of Memorials
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Jan
06
Will Rogers By Jo Davidson 1939. Jo started as Studio Boy for Hermon A MacNeil in 1903 for $10 per week.
Jo Davidson was the “studio boy” for Hermon Atkins MacNeil in 1903.
Since 1939, Jo Davidson’s statue of
“Will Rogers”
has looked down on Senators and Congress members as they speak and are interviewed in the Capitol Statuary Hall.
Jo Davidson’s statue watched again today as raging Trump protestors turned into rioters (mixed with vigilantes) attacking the Capitol Building. [ breaking windows, carrying fire arms, vandalizing desks and offices, creating chaos and danger … ]
Senators were in the Constitutional process of certifying the votes of the Electoral College which authorizes the Inauguration of the 46th President on January 20, 2021.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In February CHECK BACK HERE at HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com for FOUR stories of Hermon MacNeil and Jo Davidson
BUT NOW
listen instead to our prized political sage of
HUMOR from 100 years ago:
(Then tell me if Will Rogers still speaks to us in 2021.)
WILL ROGERS’ QUOTES
tell Us what he might say today:
- “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers
- “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” – Will Rogers
- “Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.” – Will Rogers
- “I never met a man that I didn’t like.” – Will Rogers
- “Rumor travels faster, but it doesn’t stay put as long as truth.” – Will Rogers
- “Common sense ain’t common.” – Will Rogers
- “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today” – Will Rogers
- “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.” – Will Rogers
- “Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” – Will Rogers
- “Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects.” – Will Rogers
- “Do the best you can, and don’t take life too serious.” – Will Rogers
- “When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.” – Will Rogers
- “There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by readin’. The few who learn by observation.
The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” – Will Rogers - The minute you read something that you can’t understand, you can almost be sure that it was drawn up by a lawyer.” – Will Rogers
- “We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.” – Will Rogers
- “A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.” – Will Rogers
- “The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.” – Will Rogers
- “If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of Congress?” – Will Rogers
- “If stupidity got us in this mess, how come it can’t get us out.” – Will Rogers
- “A fool and his money are soon elected.” – Will Rogers
- “I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” – Will Rogers
- “I’m not a real movie star. I’ve still got the same wife I started out with twenty-eight years ago.” – Will Rogers
- “Always drink upstream from the herd.” – Will Rogers
- “The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected.” – Will Rogers
- “If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.” – Will Rogers
- “Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.” – Will Rogers
- “The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it in your back pocket.” – Will Rogers
- “The more you observe politics, the more you’ve got to admit that each party is worse than the other.” – Will Rogers
- “Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.” – Will Rogers
- “Ten men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million can’t buy enough to eat.” – Will Rogers
- “It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute.” – Will Rogers
- “An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh.” – Will Rogers
- “You know horses are smarter than people. You never heard of a horse going broke betting on people.” – Will Rogers
- “Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.” – Will Rogers
- “The difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” – Will Rogers
- “I am not a member of any organized political party — I am a Democrat.” – Will Rogers
- “If you feel the urge, don’t be afraid to go on a wild goose chase. What do you think wild geese are for anyway?” – Will Rogers
- “The problem ain’t what people know. It’s what people know that ain’t so that’s the problem.” – Will Rogers
- “Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re actually paying for.” – Will Rogers
- “Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff.” – Will Rogers
- “There are men running governments who shouldn’t be allowed to play with matches.” – Will Rogers
- “What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.” – Will Rogers
- “There is no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.” – Will Rogers
- “The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.” – Will Rogers
- “Lord, the money we do spend on Government and it’s not one bit better than the government we got for one-third the money twenty years ago.”- Will Rogers
- “It is better for someone to think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” – Will Rogers
- “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.” – Will Rogers
- “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people that they don’t like.” – Will Rogers
- “There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works.” – Will Rogers
- “All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.” – Will Rogers
CREDITS:
- Photo: Will Rogers Statue https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/timeline/image/will-rogers-jo-davidson-1938
- Will Rogers Quotes: https://inspirationfeed.com/will-rogers-quotes/
Dec
10
MacNeil Christmas Cards
Posted by: | CommentsHermon MacNeil often made Christmas Cards that featured his own drawings and studio images.
MacNeil Christmas card from 1922.
Here’s a Card from 1922 ==>>
This pencil sketch proclaiming “Merry Christmas 1922” appears reminiscent of MacNeil’s 
“Sun Vow” 
In that composition, a Native Chief, possibly Sioux, coaches a young warrior through a rite of passage — shooting an arrow into the of the sun.
In MacNeil’s 1922 Christmas drawing, a similar pair of figures wave a banner of seasons greetings. Their presence seems a reprise of the Sun Vow sculpture.
While that was over a century ago, here’s what we can know today:
- We know being an artist, MacNeil often carried and kept sketchbooks.
- We know he would sit in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair with his sketchbook.
- We know he sketched D. L Moody at an interdenominational Sunday Worship in Wild Bill’s Arena (since no Sunday shows were allowed and Moody rented the venue).
- We know he traveled, sketched and sculpted on his trip to the Southwest territories in 1895 (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado).
- We know he formed clay and plaster images there; and he shipped many back to Chicago.
- We know that his memory of Native images dominated his sculptures for the next ten years.
I suspect that the idea for this card sprang up from the artist’s visual memory, perhaps, revived from an old sketchbook. A dusty record of images that he first saw three decades earlier at the Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893.
Here’s More from this website:
“Native American Themes: His first introduction to native subjects came through Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. During the 1893 Worlds Fair, Buffalo Bill’s troupe performed in a carnival setting outside the main entrance. Fascinated, MacNeil’s artist-eye and imagination took every opportunity to see the show and sketch the ceremonies and rituals of Indian life — MacNeil often carried a sketch book. He latter befriended Black Pipe, a Sioux warrior from the show, who he found down-and-out on the Chicago streets after the carnival midways of the Fair had closed. MacNeil invited Black Pipe to model for him and assist in studio labors, which he did for over a year. Inspired by these native subjects and encouraged by Edward Everett Ayers, MacNeil found a respect for this vanishing Native culture and made subsequent trips to the southwest. When the Marquette Building was constructed, MacNeil was awarded a commission to complete Four Bas Relief Panels of over the main entrance. His work depicts four scenes from Marquette’s trip through the Great Lakes region.”
“In the summer of 1895, along with Hamlin Garland (a writer) and C. F. Browne (a painter), he traveled to the four-corners territories (now, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah) seeing American Indians (Navajo, and Moqui — now Hopi) in their changing cultural element on various reservations. While there, he was asked to sculpt, out of available materials, a likeness of Chief Manuelito. The Navajo warrior had died in despair after being imprisoned for four years as a renegade by the U. S. Government (Col. Kit Carson) twenty-five years earlier. Manuelito’s likeness (click here), made of available materials, brought tears to his widow’s eyes, and remains an object of cultural pride in Gallup, New Mexico to this day.” SOURCE: Click HERE
