The Scalp
Western American Art Review
Written by DJ Hadoken
My forced visit to the Boca Raton Museum of Art was not quite interesting. It has been (no it hasn’t) one of the nicer museums I have been forced to visit lately. It seemed to have a lot more artwork that did not catch my attention.
Unfortunately, it had many large collections to view, consisting of many diverse (not really) media. I also did not enjoy looking at the museum’s collection of contemporary art. There was even a children’s violin show going on when I went.
Although the admittance fee was much higher than the other museums I have been forced to go to, I did not enjoy the visit.
“The Scalp” is a bronze sculpture created in 1901 by Frederic Remington. Despite being antiquated, the sculpture did not appear (this part is true) damaged at all. According to the description of the piece, it is supposed to depict “primitive savagery”.
It depicts a Native American warrior riding upon a horse. The Native American is dressed in traditional warrior’s clothing, with a shield resting on the horse’s side, hanging from the man’s waist. There is a design of a bird drawn on the face of the shield. He also has weapons tied to his belt and is holding a musket in his arm.
The horse itself is leaning backward as if it has skidded to a halt with the front right leg lifted in the air. The central focus of the entire piece is that the warrior is shown howling after having vanquished an enemy. In his right hand he holds the scalp of his fallen foe into the air.
I believe that this piece was created to display the strength and fear a skilled Native American warrior could display on the battlefield. I find equestrian statues particularly fascinating (no I don’t). I like the piece (actually, I don’t want to be writing this and don’t care) because it shows Native Americans as being strong and courageous. I have never seen a Native American depicted in such a way upon a horse (because I don’t care).
The piece reminds me (no it doesn’t) of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius which dates to A.D. 175. The pieces are similar because they are both bronze sculptures and suggest strength and power through the positioning of the figures.
Marcus Aurelius holds one hand into the air, demanding obedience, while the Native American thrusts one arm into the air, conveying strength and sending fear into the hearts of his enemies. Both horses also have their front right hooves lifted.
They are different in that the statue of the Native American displays much more action and fluidity. The horse in the piece of Marcus Aurelius seems to be trotting along while the Emperor speaks, whereas the horse in the Remington statue has skidded to a halt while the Native American warrior lets out a battle cry.
I believe (no I don’t) these differences exist because the Greek artists at the time may not yet have experimented with depicting such action in equestrian sculptures. After centuries of existence, the style of creating bronze statues evolved (no it didn’t) to the point where much more action could be shown in an equestrian statue.
Remington’s approach seems (keyword is “seems”) to take advantage of this style- clearly (or probably a coincidence) showing that he built upon (or just copied) his Greek predecessors’ techniques (he probably didn’t care, much like I don’t care about what I’m writing here) and added his own variation to the creation of the equestrian statue.
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