Search Results for "chief manuelito"
If MacNeil’s “Chiefs” Could Speak, What would They tell us Today?
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Silent for over a century since MacNeil sculpted him, this “Chief of the Multnomah” could probably tell us many volumes of stories about “The Coming of the White Man.
(Continued from Nov 10, 2011)
One of MacNeil’s “Chief of the Multnomah”, (which has seen a lot in American history since 1904, and even more since “The Coming of the White Man”) still stands guard silently over a once $25,000,000 estate in Easton, MD, known as Hidden Bridge Farm. The future of both the “Chief” and the Estate remain uncertain. The waterfront playground property is now locked in Chapter 7 bankruptcy being handled by Easton attorney, James Vidmar.
These photos show “A Chief of the Multnomah” as he overlooks the Choptank River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. This same MacNeil statue featured in the previous posting on Nov. 8, 2011 was once owned by John A. Porter.
A source has told us that the “Chief” was placed as the centerpiece on this 540-acre Estate by “John A. Porter.” Porter achieved front page fame as the former CEO of Worldcom before its colossal collapse in 2000-2. The scandal brought Worldcom into the news as the “Enron” of the tele-communication industry.
Daniela Deane, House Gossip for the Washington Post, described the situation in 2002 in this way:
Hidden Bridge Farm, a 540-acre spread with five houses on it, is for sale for $26.5 million — about $16.5 million more than any other property has sold for on the Eastern Shore. The farm sits on 1.5 miles of waterfront on the Choptank River, about 10 miles southwest of Easton.
Besides the 10,000-square-foot all-brick manor house, the property also has a waterfront farmhouse, a 3,000-square-foot guest house, a caretaker’s house, a guest cottage and two two-bedroom … Source: [ Daniela Deane. “House gossip; Eastern Shore Estate Asks a Record Price.” The Washington Post. Washingtonpost Newsweek Interactive. 2002. Retrieved November 08, 2011 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-325206 ]
Deane’s story details one of the holdings of John A. Porter who was worth over $500,000,000 in 1999. Now, however, he is broke. After loosing the Maryland property and “Chief Multnomah,” he has had to scale down to a 10,000 sq foot ocean-front mansion in Palm Beach. That little homestead retreat is worth much less than Hidden Bridge only about $17,000,000. Fortunately, Florida has a generous “Homestead Act”, known by locals as the “mansion loophole” act.
Some folks suggest that you might be able to “buy the farm” for possibly $14 Million, once it comes on the market. The “Chief “ may (or may not) be included in the selling price.
So, we may wonder, what might MacNeil’s two “Chiefs” say if they spoke to us 2011? If Multnomah and Manuelito could speak to the White Man after 150 years, what would they say?
- What might they tells us about men who think they “own the land?”
- What might they have seen of “human greed” from white men or red men and others?
- What might they know about “crooked treaties” or “cooked books?”
Chief Manuelito of the Navajo sculpted bu H A MacNeil in 1895
- How many ‘moons’ might it be before the next entry in the “Greatest-Corporate-Scandal-in-US- History Contest?”
- How many pension funds or villages will be raided and destroyed in the meantime?
WATCH ON, you CHIEFS!
For Further reading: other John A. Porter and Worldcom articles:
1. “Former WorldCom Chairman Finds Shelter in Homestead Exemption “
2. “In Florida, No Wolves at the Door”
3. “Corporate Strife Touched Florida”
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BLACK PIPE, the SIOUX, Returns to South Dakota on “Native American Day” ~ ~
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After 130 years, Black Pipe, the Sioux, has returned to South Dakota, on “Native American Day” ~ ~ now “Indigenous Peoples Day.”
“BLACK PIPE, THE SIOUX, AT SIX TEEN YEARS.” These words are what MacNeil wrote on this bronze roundlette, a bas-relief, circa 1894.
This piece, one of only two known to exist, [CLICK HERE for the other] 
dates to 1894 and was possibly cast in bronze by its sculptor:
Hermon MacNeil
Now it resides in
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
at the home of the webmaster.
Hermon MacNeil’s BLACK PIPE work was a product of lean days. Following the closing of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, both artists and Fair workers had tough times. In 1894, Hermon found himself “stranded” in Chicago.
For a while, he earned meals in exchange for drawing sketches of patrons in a Chicago restaurant. (He learned that livelihood while traveling through France years before). Eventually, his prospects would begin to improve.
Fifty years later after a lifetime of sculpting, remembering that era of his life, he wrote:
“I finished my work at the “Chicago Fair” and it (The Fair) was a great success. The best combination of buildings in the then prevalent classic style, ever put together for any Fair.
I took a small studio in Chicago and tried to see if I could make a go of it. C. F. Browne was also stranded there and I invited him to share the 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.” [Autobiographical Sketch, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, June 1943, page 5.]
The Indian had caught Hermon’s fancy. Beginning with Buffalo Bill Cody’s “Wild West Show” just outside the gate of the Chicago Fair, MacNeil saw Cody’s dramatic spectacle many times. He always carried a sketch book and drew whatever he saw.
Black Pipe later became the model for Primitive Indian Music.
FINDING BLACK PIPE:
One day walking down Adams Street, Hermon recognized a really long haired Indian looking down and out walking along the sidewalk. He looked hungry and cold. Hermon had sketched many Indians while attending Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show.
“So I stopped and chatted with him and found he was stranded.” Mac brought him to the studio, warmed him, fed him and began modeling him. In four hours, MacNeil had made a full head profile relief, and titled it Black Pipe, the Sioux at Six Teen Years.
Like many other artists of the time, Hermon sculpted what he saw. This Indian had indeed “caught his fancy.”
Chicago. In fact, 1985, in general, had been a productive year for the sculptor. MacNeil had found Black Pipe, (the Sioux from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show), cold and hungry on the streets of Chicago. He took him in as studio help and a model for future sculptures. That vision of Black Pipe remained in Hermon’s artistic memory and appeared again many times.
For October 2023,
BLACK PIPE
will be the featured theme of
upcoming posts
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Moody Bust sculpted during 1919 Flu Pandemic
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Hermon MacNeil sculpted this bust of Dwight L. Moody a century ago during the Flu Pandemic of 1919.
One hundred years later (In 2019), I visited that MacNeil work in Sage Chapel on site at the Moody’s Northfield Seminary.
The photo below records that visit. ↓
Dwight L. Moody by Hermon MacNeil (1919). The century-old work rests Sage Chapel on site at the Moody’s Northfield Seminary.
On June 6, 1919, Northfield paid Honors to Moody at the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Founder’s Day in East Northfield, Mass.
The four days of celebration included:
- A Reception at the home of Principal C. E. Dickerson, Tuesday evening, marked the close of the commencement exercises and celebration of the 40th anniversary of the funding of Northfield Seminary.
- The Reunion of nearly five hundred former students and friends returned to Northfield.
- The occasion honored the founder, Dwight L. Moody.
- Moody’s youngest granddaughter, Margaret Moody, unveiled the portrait bust by pulling the draping off of her grandfather’s bronze likeness.
- Little Margaret is the daughter of Chaplain Paul D. Moody, son of D. L. Moody and Head of Chaplains for the Allied Expeditionary Force (A.E.F).
- The bust is the gift of the alumnae and has graced Sage Memorial Chapel for over a century.
- Hermon MacNeil of New York sculpted the bust from a pencil drawing he made of Mr. Moody when the evangelist was in the vigor of his powers and from a death mask provided by the school.
- MacNeil made the sketches at The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Moody organized Sunday worship services held in the stadium built by William Cody for his “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.” NO SUNDAY SHOWS were allowed at the Fair. So, Moody rented it from Cody on Sundays and packed it with fair attenders and local pastors and their congregationschurch
- It was presented by Mrs. Helen M. Williams of New York City, President of the board of trustees of the Northfield schools. Another token of the esteem in which Northfield graduates hold their alma mater was the gift of $600 from the class of 1914.
This digital file of the article from the September 1919 issue of the Northfield Alumnae Chronicle is a treasure trove of background information.
- The bust was a gift of the Alumnae Association. Many small donations.
- Johnson’s presentation speech cites conversations with MacNeil. It is a wonderful piece of Northfield history and affection for Mr. Moody 20 years after his death. .
- MacNeil attended one of D. L. Moody’s Meetings in Chicago ( MacNeil was there between 1890-95).
- MacNeil made a hasty sketch of Moody at that meeting. He kept his sketch for years.
- MacNeil created the bust of Moody and afterward told the alumnae (Mrs. Johnson (?)) the story of making the sketch.
- The bust was presented at a service in Sage Chapel.
SOURCES:
- Lost New England (retrieved 4-17-2021) [https://lostnewengland.com/category/massachusetts/northfield-massachusetts/]
East Northfield, Mass. June 6, (1919) - ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE. Saturday, June 7, 1919
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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
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The Hamlin Garland Memorial Highway ~
Brown County, South Dakota
Hamlin Garland https://mypoeticside.com/wp-content/uploads/gallery-images/e6845fc.jpeg
Hamlin Garland Highway in Brown County South Dakota.
[Credit: Hamlin Garland Society]
In June 1936, the Brown County Commissioners named a section of Brown County Highway 11, for a total of 10 miles, the “Hamlin Garland Memorial Highway.” This section travels past the homestead of Garland’s father, Richard, who homesteaded in 1881. In 1998, new signs were placed along this stretch of paved road noting the name of the highway.
[ Hamlin Garland Society of Aberdeen, SD http://www.garlandsociety.org/ ]
Hamlin Garland Highway in South Dakota.
GARLAND TOWNSHIP–This township was named after Hamlin Garland, a novelist, who lived in this area with his pioneer parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Garland. The land south and west of Columbia [and Ordway] was immortalized by this writer in “Among the Corn Rows,” and “A Son of the Middle Border.”
Garland information on the web:
In 1895 HAMLIN GARLAND led Hermon MacNeil and Francis Brown to the four corners area (AZ, NM, CO, UT) to witness the Native American people and culture there.
-
Hamlin Garland Highway in South Dakota. [SOURCE: Information courtesy of Gene Aisenbrey ~ Hamlin Garland Society of Aberdeen, SD ~ Contact: garlandsociety@gmail.com Copyright © 2015 ]
- Hamlin Garland Biography (Wisconsin Authors and Their Works)
- A Biography of three pages
- One of Garland’s Grant Interviews with Julia Dent Grant (1826-1902) widow of General U. S. Grant
- SD Historical Society: “Hamlin Garland’s South Dakota: History and Story” https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-9-3/hamlin-garlands-dakota-history-and-story/vol-09-no-3-hamlin-garlands-dakota.pdf
- A brief Garland bio (Al Filreis)
~ A Poem by Hamlin Garland ~
“Do you fear the force of the wind,
The slash of the rain?
Go face them and fight them,
Be savage again.
Go hungry and cold like the wolf,
Go wade like the crane:
The palms of your hands will thicken,
The skin of your cheek will tan,
You’ll grow ragged and weary and swarthy,
But you’ll walk like a man!”
Their adventure in 1895 led into Native settlements in Colorado, Arizona (Moqui, Navajo), New Mexico, and Utah:
- Hamlin Garland, led the tour to the southwest in the summer of 1895. MacNeil & Browne 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 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.
- Charles Francis Browne was a painter and friend (his room mate in Paris) who accompanied Hermon MacNeil and the author.
- Edward Everett Ayers was 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. His copy of MacNeil’s “Moqui Runner” still graces the Newberry Library.
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Society of Medalist #3 ~ Hopi ~ Prayer for Rain ~ by Hermon A. MacNeil
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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]
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 twice as rare and up to 10 times 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.
- 1894 “Primitive Indian Music” ~ family heirloom
- 1895 “Chief Manuelito” statue ~Gallup, New Mexico
- 1897 “The Moqui Runner” Modeled 1896, Cast 1897
- 1901 “Primitive Chant to the Great Spirit” ~ Smithsonian American Art Museum – Washington, DC
- 1901 “Sun Vow” Art Institute of Chicago
- 1901 “Sun Vow” Metropolitan Museum ~NYC
- 1903 “Chief of the Multnomah Tribe”, Met Museum, NYC
- 1904 “The Coming of the White Man #2” ~ Queens, NYC ~ Poppenhusen
- 1904 “The Coming of the White Man” ~ Portland
By comparison, the SOM’s issued from:
- 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.”
