The Indian: The Dying Chief Contemplating the Progress of Civilization by Thomas Crawford (425)

This sculpture is one of the largest works in the Luce Center. And it has an impressively long name too: Dying Indian Chief Contemplating the Progress of American Civilization. The sculptor was Thomas Crawford. The poignant title tells you why the chief looks the way he does. As the sculptor himself wrote, the chief is broken and bowed before the progress of the civilized white man. Walk around the sculpture to see its details. The chiefs long hair down his back, and his headdress of feathers...his decorated moccasins...his tomahawk on the ground at his left side...the animal skin that he sits on. And of course look closely at his face, the eyes open, but staring blankly into an uncertain future. Crawford did not originally design this sculpture in three-dimensions as you see it here. He first designed the Dying Indian Chief in 1853 for the triangular pediment above the entrance to the Senate wing of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. You can see how his pose would fit in a corner of the triangle. If you visit Washington today you can see the entire group of figures. Taken all together, the Senate sculptures tell the story of Americas discovery, settlement, and development as a nation through western expansion. Of course, often at the expense of Native Americans. The Senate sculptures are carved in relief, which means theyre attached to the wall behind them. Crawford made this freestanding version later In Rome, in 1856.

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