FREDERICK WILLIAM MACMONNIES (1863-1937)

Details

FREDERICK WILLIAM MACMONNIES (1863-1937)

'The Pioneer Mother', A Plaster Study for the Pioneer Monument

11¼in. (28.6cm.) high, 15½in. (39.4cm.) long

Provenance

By descent through the sculptor's family to 1980

Literature

"The MacMonnies Pioneer Monument for Denver: An Ebodiment of the Western Spirit", The Century Magazine, LXXX, October, 1910, pp. 876-80, illus.
P. J. Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1974, pp. 382-383, illus for the monument
M. F. Rogers, Jr., Sketches and Bozzetti by American Sculptors 1800-1950, Eden Park, Ohio, 1987, pp. 158-159, illus.

Exhibited

The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1985, Women of the American West, cat. no 8

Lot Essay

The present model is a preliminary study for MacMonnies' group of Pioneer Mother on the Pioneer Monument of 1910 in Denver, Colorado. While the pyramidal structure remains, the study differs from the completed group in the position of the woman's head, the substitution of a rifle for the scythe and the removal of the male figure.