Cyrus Edwin Dallin (1861-1944)

'Massasoit'

Details

Cyrus Edwin Dallin (1861-1944)
'Massasoit'
inscribed 'C.E.Dallin ©' (on the base)--inscribed 'MASSASOIT' and stamped 'Gorham Co Founders Q539 #3' (along the base)
bronze with brown patina
37¾ in. (95.9 cm.) high

Provenance

Kennedy Galleries, New York.
Private collection, New York, acquired from the above, 1978.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 2004.

Literature

P.J. Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1974, pp. 92-106, 386, another example illustrated.
W. Craven, Sculpture in America, Newark, Delaware, 1984, p. 531.
R.G. Francis, Cyrus E. Dallin: Let Justice Be Done, Springville, Utah, 1976, pp. 55-57.
B.G. Proske, Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, 1968, n.p.

Lot Essay

Cyrus Dallin began his first model of Massasoit, chief of the Wampanogas, in 1911. This version was accepted by the Improved Order of Red Men for a monument at Plymouth, Massachusetts, however delays related to World War I postponed the project and a slightly different version was later installed in 1921. The present work, a cast of the artist's later interpretation, is one of three lifetime casts produced by Gorham Co. Founders of this size. Presently, this is the only cast of this size in private hands as the remaining two are in collections at the Woolaroc Museum, Bentonville, Oklahoma, and the Algonquin Club, Boston, Massachusetts.

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