The Closing Era

The Closing Era
The Closing Era
	The statue in 2011
Medium	Bronze sculpture
Location	Denver, Colorado, U.S.
	39°44′21″N104°59′02″W / 39.739235°N 104.983983°W

Last updated January 21, 2025

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 statue 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]

Base poem

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.

Vandalism

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]

Related Research Articles

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 it was repurposed as a statuary hall in 1864; 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado State Capitol</span> State capitol building of the U.S. state of Colorado

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver Civic Center</span> Neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, USA

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 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment was formed in November 1862 by Territorial Governor John Evans, composed mostly of members of the 1st Colorado Infantry Regiment and of C and D Companies of the 2nd Colorado Infantry Regiment. It was formed both to protect Colorado against incursions from the Confederate forces and to fight the Native Americans who already inhabited the area.

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.

<i>Blue Mustang</i> Sculpture in Denver, Colorado, U.S.

Blue Mustang 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, Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He is also known as William Preston Powers.

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".

Blanche Nevin (1841–1925) was an American artist and poet. She is considered America's first noteworthy woman sculptor, and is best known for her sculpture of Revolutionary War General Peter Muhlenberg in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.

Steven Weitzman is an American public artist and designer known for his figurative sculptures, murals, and aesthetic designs for highway and bridge infrastructure projects.

A statue of Queen Anne is installed in the forecourt outside the west front of St Paul's Cathedral, in London, United Kingdom. It became a Grade II listed building in 1972.

A statue of Benjamin Franklin stands outside Franklin High School, in Portland, Oregon's South Tabor neighborhood, in the United States. A work by the sculptor George Berry and his assistants, it was installed in 1942.

The statue of Charles Sumner in Boston's Public Garden is a bronze statue by Thomas Ball, commissioned by the Boston Art Committee to honor Sumner after his death in 1874. The statue was dedicated in 1878.

A statue of Daniel Webster by Hiram Powers is installed outside the Massachusetts State House, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

The Civil War Monument is a statue of a Civil War cavalryman by Jack Howland that was originally 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.

References

↑ "Grounds". Colorado Capitol Art. State of Colorado. 15 March 2015. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
↑ Hern, Elizabeth (2015-09-04). "Missing bow from historic Denver statue found on Friday". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on 2019-07-02. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
1 2 "Colorado Capitol Grounds". Colorado Capitol Art. 15 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2020-10-17.
↑ "Closing Era - Denver, CO - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com". www.waymarking.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-26. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
↑ "Missing bow from historic Denver statue found on Friday". The Denver Post. 2015-09-04. Archived from the original on 2021-02-13. Retrieved 2022-03-26.

External links

Closing Era – Denver, CO at Waymarking

This article about a building or structure in Colorado is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article about a sculpture in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Grounds". Colorado Capitol Art. State of Colorado. 15 March 2015. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020.

[2] Hern, Elizabeth (2015-09-04). "Missing bow from historic Denver statue found on Friday". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on 2019-07-02. Retrieved 2020-02-12.

[:0-3] 1 2 "Colorado Capitol Grounds". Colorado Capitol Art. 15 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2020-10-17.

[4] "Closing Era - Denver, CO - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com". www.waymarking.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-26. Retrieved 2022-03-26.

[5] "Missing bow from historic Denver statue found on Friday". The Denver Post. 2015-09-04. Archived from the original on 2021-02-13. Retrieved 2022-03-26.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]