The Dying Indian
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Object Label
As part of his 2020 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, Jeffrey Gibson commissioned a pair of beaded moccasins from the artist John Little Sun Murie to adorn this early twentieth-century bronze, which portrays a stereotyped “dying” Native warrior. Through this gesture, Gibson and Murie interrupt the myth that Native Americans were doomed to extinction, one perpetuated by traditional narratives of U.S. history and sculptures like this one.
The title of Murie’s moccasins, rendered in beadwork at Gibson’s request along each shoe’s buckskin edge, comes from Roberta Flack’s song “See You Then.” Gibson and Murie honor the Native subject rendered anonymous by the sculpture’s original artist, reclaiming his story as one of dignity, strength, and survival.
Caption
Charles Cary Rumsey American, 1879–1922. The Dying Indian, 1900s. Bronze, 113 x 101 x 31 in. (287 x 256.5 x 78.7 cm) sight measurement June 29 2018: 98 × 34 × 111 in. (248.9 × 86.4 × 281.9 cm) storage (2022 storage volume on custom skid): 104 × 116 × 19 in. (264.2 × 294.6 × 48.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Charles Cary Rumsey, 30.917. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 30.917_view01_PS11.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
The Dying Indian
Date
1900s
Medium
Bronze
Classification
Dimensions
113 x 101 x 31 in. (287 x 256.5 x 78.7 cm) sight measurement June 29 2018: 98 × 34 × 111 in. (248.9 × 86.4 × 281.9 cm) storage (2022 storage volume on custom skid): 104 × 116 × 19 in. (264.2 × 294.6 × 48.3 cm)
Signatures
Inscribed on base near proper left rear foot of horse: "C. C. Rumsey. Paris. 190[?]"
Markings
Incised on proper right side of base at back: "H. ROUARD. Fondeur. PARIS"
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Charles Cary Rumsey
Accession Number
30.917
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Can you tell me more about the bronze horse and rider on the other side of the parking lot? That’s a sad figure. Is it a Remington?
That sculpture features a slouched Native American man atop a starving horse, a reference to the symbolic plight of the defeated warrior. It was carved by Charles Cary Rumsey in the 1900s.It does recall Remington's "Outlier," on the fifth floor and its "vanishing Indian" rhetoric.Why is it outside?It was first installed on the front steps of the facade, but was moved in 1934 when the facade underwent renovations.
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