New-York tribune., 1909-05-21
4 NEEDED MONUMENT.

The erection of a public statue in the United
States commonly implies tribute to some indi-
viduaI We do not so often call in the aid OF
plastic art TO do honor TO an idea or a type.
Partly no doubt, this is because it Is far more
difficult TO create enthusiasm for an impersOnaI
conception than for a man whose character or
achievements may have long eXerted strong
influence upon the imagination of his country
men Yet it ought not to require much effort
to excite sympathy for the project, recently
broached. of erecting in New York-which is
10 say at the gateway Of the United States
some sort of memorial to the red men who
once possessed this country. It is thought
that the heroic figure of a North American Ind-
ian. set in bronze upon an imposing pedestal,
would be quite as appropriate an embellish-
ment of the city as the portrait OF any one OF
our great statesmen or military leaders. The
proposal may SEEM at first blush, little start
ling but it rests on a legitimate sentiment for
a vanishing race whose past history IS in
dissolubIy intertwined with our own, and it
suggests great artistic possibilities
The Indian has Jared curiously at the hands
of our painters and sculptors. He has not been
neglected. On the contrary. there have been
many American artists responsive to the ap-
peal of his physical attributes, if not to that OF
his character. He has figured in countless
pictures and fair number of statues. New
Workers are famlIlar. IOG eAdluplS, Will tilC
Indian Hunter" by Mr.. J. Q. A Ward, in
Central Park, one of the most picturesque
works in American sculpture. Every one
knows too, the romantic Indian subjects painted
by Mr. George De Forest Brush and the vivid
studies made among the tribes of the West
by Mr.. Frederic Remington There has been
no lack Of Interpreters of the picturesqueness OF
our aborigines. On the other hand, the treat
ment of the Indian In American art has in the
main been such as to emphasize his picturesque
ness at the expense of other no less interesting
traits. Only in recent years has the soul of the
Indian as mirrored in his countenance been
deemed of an Importance comparable to that
Of his 1.-THE bronZed form and his bizarre war
trappings. The late Olin l., Warner was, we
believe the first American sculptor TO study
the Indian both artist and as a pSy-
chologist The portraits of certain chiefs,
modelled in relief by him. form series or
rare interest and value. Since he made them
other artists have pursued their studies along
kindred lines, and there has been accumulated.
too. great mass of Photographic records. such
as those produced so brilliantly by Mr.. Curtis.
The Indian to-day as an artists model. is ap-
preached from a new point of view. We have
come to realize his peculiar significance in that
capacity.
J 1t would be strange indeed II a type so orig
inal and so distinguished were not sooner or
make much of their national costumes and
manners and are constantly celebrating these
In their art. We may be sure that their painters
and sculptOrs would have rejoiced in the pos
session Of such material have had ready
10 our hand in the wild life of the mountains
and plains For more than a generation our
artists have been feeling their way. so to say,
toward the adequate commemoration Of that
life and it would seem if the time were
ripe for the elimination Of this movement in
the creation of a really noble monument. The
red race is going. 1t is almost gone. Not many
years will have passed before the last pure
blooded representatives Of the great tribes will
have disappeared. Even such representa-
tive are not by any means TO be found with
ease on every reservation. The degradation Of
the type in many quarters is sadly familiar
story. But there still 90 forth upon their met
tlesome horses in the West, stalwart, character
full and inscrutable. some of the most impressive
sons of nature that have ever sought to with
stand the advance of civilization upon savagery
They are there TO kindle the Imagination OF the
right sculptor, who in giving immortality to
their dignity and strength would wake. we be-
leve a sense of poetic justice III every patriotic
American.