Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Chief Washakie

Today’s photo isn’t about food, but it was food that brought me to the site of this gorgeous bronze statue. I had a fabulous dinner with friends last Saturday evening at a new steakhouse located in the renovated Camelback Inn and Resort. The restaurant was BLT and if you are a local reader, I highly recommend it. The steak was superb and the service was, in a word, brilliant. This lovely bronze statue stands at the entrance to the Camelback Inn and from the inscription, I learned that it was created by renowned artist and sculptor Dave McGary. This statue is the 4th casting of a statue that was commissioned by a committee that included members of the Washakie family. One of the three original castings is in the permanent collection of the Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. Chief Washakie was chief of the Shashones for more than 60 years who was a skilled orator who spoke French, English and a number of Indian languages. Upon his death at the age of 102, he was given a full military funeral, the only one known to be given to an Indian Chief. I recognized the name of Dave McGary as an artist that my sister brought to my attention after she visited his studio in New Mexico. I talked her into posting a photo from there, so stop by her site at Prescott Area Daily Photo to see another amazing piece of art from this very talented artist.

7 comments:

Paty said...

stunning beautiful work of art, thank you for posting it!

Julie ScottsdaleDailyPhoto.com said...

we both have bronze sculptures up today! Such a coincidence.

Judy said...

Beautiful, Sharon! We will have to see this in person some day.

cieldequimper said...

I'm not too familiar with the history of Shoshones, thank you for this informative post. The statue is wonderful.

Kathleen said...

Great photo - I love that you took it at night because it gives it a very dramatic look.

Daily Chicago Photo said...

Very nice! Love the lighting on it! And all the information about the Chief is great too.

Unknown said...

With the exception of Jeronimo and a few others I must confess my ignorance in what concerns native american history! It's a shame, I know, so thank you for the information.