The Closing Era | |
---|---|
Medium | Bronze sculpture |
Location | Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
39°44′21″N104°59′02″W / 39.739235°N 104.983983°W |
The Closing Era is a bronze sculpture of a Native American hunter standing over a dying bison, installed on the East side of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. [1] [2] The statute was created by Preston Powers, the son of famous sculptor Hiram Powers and "represents the end of the traditional lifestyle of Native Americans in Colorado". [3] It was originally created in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and subsequently donated to the state of Colorado and erected on a granite base. The base originated from Cotopaxi in Fremont County, Colorado. Powers commissioned a poem from John Greenleaf Whittier for the base of the statue. [3]
The original idea came from real estate investors who wanted to commission a sandstone statue to lure newcomers to the Perry Park area of Denver. When the idea did not materialize, a group called the "Fortnightly Club" under the leadership of Mrs. E. M. Ashley and Eliza Routt determined the same idea would be a good addition to the Colorado State's exhibit at the 1893 World's Fair Exposition in Chicago. The group commissioned Powers to create the sculpture in bronze instead of sandstone. [4]
The poem at the base reads:
The mountain eagle from his snow-locked peaks
For the wild hunter and the bison seeks,
In the chang'd world below; and find alone
Their graven semblance, in the eternal stone.
In August, 2015, the bow being held by the Native American was stolen but later recovered. According to police spokeswoman Christine Downs, the bow was "discovered tossed over the District 2 police station fence" on September 2, 2015, which is approximate five miles away. [5]
The National Statuary Hall is a chamber in the United States Capitol devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans. The hall, also known as the Old Hall of the House, is a large, two-story, semicircular room with a second story gallery along the curved perimeter. It is located immediately south of the Rotunda. The meeting place of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 50 years (1807–1857), after a few years of disuse in 1864 it was repurposed as a statuary hall; this is when the National Statuary Hall Collection was established. By 1933, the collection had outgrown this single room, and a number of statues are placed elsewhere within the Capitol.
The Georgia State Capitol is an architecturally and historically significant building in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building has been named a National Historic Landmark which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As the primary office building of Georgia's government, the capitol houses the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state on the second floor, chambers in which the General Assembly, consisting of the Georgia State Senate and Georgia House of Representatives, meets annually from January to April. The fourth floor houses visitors' galleries overlooking the legislative chambers and a museum located near the rotunda in which a statue of Miss Freedom caps the dome.
The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, United States, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, and the Colorado State Treasurer.
Alexander Phimister Proctor was an American sculptor with the contemporary reputation as one of the nation's foremost animaliers.
The Denver Civic Center is a civic center area that includes two parks surrounded by government and cultural buildings and spaces. Civic Center is located in central Denver, Colorado, on the south side of Downtown Denver. Much of the area is a historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. A somewhat smaller area was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 2012 as one of the nation's finest examples of the City Beautiful movement of civic design. Denver Civic Center lies partially within the north end of an official Denver neighborhood also named Civic Center. It includes the Colorado State Capitol building, in the west end of Denver's official Capitol Hill neighborhood, and it includes a few buildings in the south end of Denver's Central Business District.
The United States Capitol rotunda is the tall central rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It has been described as the Capitol's "symbolic and physical heart". Built between 1818 and 1824, the rotunda is located below the Capitol dome, which was built between 1857 and 1866.
Nellie Verne Walker, was an American sculptor best known for her statue of James Harlan formerly in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol, Washington D.C.
Blue Mustang, or Mustang, and colloquially known as Blucifer, is a cast-fiberglass sculpture of a mustang located at Denver International Airport (DEN). Colored bright blue, with illuminated glowing red eyes, it is notable both for its striking appearance and for having killed its sculptor, Luis Jiménez, when a section of it fell on him at his studio.
Prehistory of Colorado provides an overview of the activities that occurred prior to Colorado's recorded history. Colorado experienced cataclysmic geological events over billions of years, which shaped the land and resulted in diverse ecosystems. The ecosystems included several ice ages, tropical oceans, and a massive volcanic eruption. Then, ancient layers of earth rose to become the Rocky Mountains.
Preston Powers was an American sculptor, painter, and teacher, born in Florence, Italy. He is also known as William Preston Powers.
George Washington is a statue by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon from the late 18th century. Based on a life mask and other measurements of George Washington taken by Houdon, it is considered one of the most accurate depictions of the subject. The original sculpture is located in the rotunda of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, and it has been copied extensively, with one copy standing in the United States Capitol Rotunda.
Andrew Jackson is a bronze equestrian statue by Clark Mills mounted on a white marble base in the center of Lafayette Square within President's Park in Washington, D.C., just to the north of the White House. Jackson is depicted dressed in military uniform, raising his hat with his right hand, while controlling the reins with his left hand as his horse rises on its rear legs.
Jakob Otto Schweizer was a Swiss-American sculptor noted for his work on war memorials.
Elsie Ward (1871–1923) was an American sculptor born in Fayette, Missouri. Her collection largely consists of bronze and other metal sculptures. Ward worked on a host of diverse works of art, but "her specialty was portraits, busts, and reliefs".
George Washington, also known as the President George Washington Monument, is a bronze sculpture of George Washington by Lorado Taft, installed at the University of Washington campus in Seattle's University District, in the U.S. state of Washington.
A statue of Daniel Webster by Hiram Powers is installed outside the Massachusetts State House, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
The Civil War Monument was a statue of a Civil War cavalryman by Jack Howland, installed outside the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. The memorial is also known as the Civil War Memorial, Soldier's Monument, and Civil War Soldier. The work was dedicated on July 24, 1909, after being cast by the Bureau Brothers.
On the War Trail is a 1922 statue by Alexander Phimister Proctor, installed outside the Colorado State Capitol in Denver's Civic Center Park. The bronze sculpture depicts a Native American riding on a horse and carrying a spear.