A statuette ofAppeal to the Great Spirit is in the permanent collection of theWhite House and was exhibited in PresidentBill Clinton'sOval Office. British Prime Minister Rt. Hon.David Lloyd George also had a statuette, which he received in association with a meeting withSioux Chief Two Eagle during an October 1923 tour of the US and Canada[2]
Having grown up inUtah, the young Dallin frequently interacted withNative American children, who gave him insights that he called upon while creating this and other works. ForAppeal to the Great Spirit, the model was Antonio Corsi, who posed for several great painters and sculptors of the era.[3]
Appeal to the Great Spirit wascast inParis, and won a gold medal for its exhibition in theParis Salon. On January 23, 1912, it was installed outside the main entrance to theBoston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA).[4] The installation was originally intended to be temporary, but the statue was never removed, and eventually came to be considered as an iconic symbol of the MFA.[5]
A restoration of the original Boston version was reversed at Dallin's request,[when?] because he preferred the light green tones that had developed on theequestrian sculpture over time rather than the typical "statuary brown"patina the conservator applied without consulting him.[6]
Prominent Equestrian Statues of Indigenous People, by Cyrus Edwin Dallin
On March 3, 2019, the MFA convened a public discussion of the artwork among five art historians and museum curators; two of the panelists were also members of Native American tribes.[7][8] In October 2019, as part of its first community celebration ofIndigenous Peoples' Day, the MFA surrounded its iconic statue with placards displaying questions and comments submitted by the community, including Native Americans.[9] In 2020, the MFA website posted two brief essays written by Native Americans commenting on the sculpture and its cultural meanings.[10][5]
In 1929 a full-sized bronze version, personally overseen and approved by Dallin, was installed inMuncie, Indiana, in the intersection of Walnut and Granville streets in theWysor Heights Historic District; it is considered by many residents to be a symbol of the city.[11] The statue was erected "In Loving Memory ofEdmund Burke Ball" by "His Wife and Children".
An edition of nine 40-inch (1,000 mm) bronzes ofAppeal to the Great Spirit was produced around 1922. One was the centerpiece of the Tower Room ofDartmouth College's Baker Tower, the college's main library and most iconic building, but has since been removed.[12]
A plaster example in this one-third scale is at theCyrus Dallin Museum in Arlington, Massachusetts, and another is in theRockwell Museum inCorning, New York.[13] Central High School inTulsa, Oklahoma, possessed another plaster example, which was used in 1985 as the model for a bronze version. The casting was done by American Artbronze Fine Arts Foundry under the direction of Howard R. Kirsch. The bronze is now installed in Woodward Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the intersection of 21st Street and Peoria.[14]
Examples of the 21-inch (530 mm) bronze statuette are at the White House, theUS Department of State, and many American museums.[15]
An8+1⁄2-inch (220 mm) miniature edition was produced by theGorham Manufacturing Company in 1913; in 2009, No. 263 sold for $9,375.[16]
An early instance of the sculpture's place in American culture is its appearance (as photographed by Baldwin Coolidge) on the cover of "A-M-E-R-I-C-A" (1917), a World War I song byMay Greene andBilly Lang and published by D. W. Cooper.
The sculpture is used as the logo forthe Beach Boys' vanity record labelBrother Records. It was first seen in the lower-left corner on the band's 1967 albumSmiley Smile and its attending single "Heroes and Villains", and was used more prominently on the cover of their 1973 albumThe Beach Boys in Concert. When Beach BoyCarl Wilson was asked in 1975 why the group used this as their logo, he said the Indian was chosen because Brian, Dennis, and Carl's grandfather believed that there was a spiritual Indian "guide" who watched over them from the "other side". The choice of the logo was Brian's. Carl called the logo "The Last Horizon".[17]
A painting of the sculpture appears on the cover of the albumSpirit of God (1984) by the Native American Gospel recording artistJohnny P. Curtis.
A painting of the sculpture appears on the cover of the albumLysol (1992) by rock groupThe Melvins.
In the vinyl release ofDirections to See a Ghost (2008) by the American rock bandThe Black Angels, the poster inside features a skeleton form of this sculpture with a psychedelic background.
In 2020,Dartmouth College'sHood Museum of Art commissionedCree artistKent Monkman to paintThe Great Mystery, which reinterprets theAppeal to the Great Spirit sculpture incorporating aMark Rothko painting in the background. The work is displayed near a mid-sized version of Dallin's sculpture.[18]
In 2021, two temporary art installations were placed around and near to the sculpture.Raven Reshapes Boston: A Native Corn Garden at the MFA, byElizabeth James-Perry, (Aquinnah Wampanoag, b. 1973), consists of corn, beans, andsedges planted in a small garden completely surrounding the statue.Ekua Holmes (African American, b. 1955), planted a large patch ofsunflowers close by, calledRadiant Community, as part of her ongoingRoxbury Sunflower Project.[19][20]
^"Appeal to the Great Spirit".Boston Art Commission. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. RetrievedJuly 22, 2013.. See also "Big Bronze Statue by Cyrus Dallin Placed at Museum",The Christian Science Monitor, January 24, 1912, p. 1.
^abBermeo, Layla; Lukey (Aquinnah Wampanoag), Tess (September 2020)."Appeal to the Great Spirit".collections.mfa.org. MFA Boston.Archived from the original on September 20, 2021. RetrievedSeptember 20, 2021.
^Zordan, Joseph (July 6, 2020)."Appeal to the Great Spirit".Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.Archived from the original on September 20, 2021. RetrievedSeptember 20, 2021.
^"Cyrus Edwin Dallin, American, 1861-1944".Hood Museum of Art. April 29, 2009. Archived fromthe original on October 21, 2014. RetrievedJuly 22, 2013. Dartmouth was founded as an institution to educate the Native Americans of New England, and it recalls that heritage through art such as Dallin'sAppeal to the Great Spirit.
^"Garden for Boston".Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. June 22 – October 12, 2021.Archived from the original on September 20, 2021. RetrievedSeptember 20, 2021.
