Next up isn't a bronze, but is the actual original plaster art used to make a panel in a bronze door! If you're at all familiar with bronze casting, then you know that the artist does not create the original art in bronze but in another medium, which is then molded up in a long and tedious process before being duplicated in bronze. In this way, no bronze is an actual "original," instead they're copies of the original work.
It's MUCH rarer to get one's hands on an original, one of a kind sculpture that was used as the basis of a bronze, than of the bronze copy itself. This is one of only a few pieces that I own (so far) that are of this caliber.
Now, what we have here is a square plaster plaque, 13.5" on each side. It is tinted sepia from having been coated in alginate during the molding process. There are a few small chips in the border, nothing too big or bad, but is otherwise in wonderful condition. A handwritten tag attached to the back states that it was created by artist Paul Walters (this is wrong, the artist was Avard Fairbanks) as a panel in a set of bronze doors at the "Oregon State University Art School" (also wrong, it's the upper panel in the right side door in the western façade at the United States National Bank building in Portland, Oregon). The seller had listed that it was created in 1926 (that's actually correct, the bronze doors were cast between 1926-1927). A random search of "bronze doors" and "Portland Oregon" turned up a picture which put the mystery of this panel to rest!
Depicted here are three Native men, two standing to the right in profile and one seated to the left with his back to the viewers. They are perched on a highland facing the ocean and are watching a ship sailing on the ocean below. The Indian standing to the far right is wearing a headdress, a rather rough looking loincloth and moccasins and is holding what appears to be a spear or staff. The Indian standing in the middle is wearing a head band with two standing feathers, a basic loincloth and moccasins and is holding a feathered staff with which it appears he is signaling the ship. The man on the left is seated and is wearing nothing but a single feather in his hair and maybe moccasins. His right hand is gripping a bow which is on the ground.
The overall message appears to be an interpretation of "The Coming of the White Man," or perhaps "First Contact." The panel to the immediate left, in the other door, depicts the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which is assumed to be the first contact between the descendants of European settlers and the First Peoples of the area. It seems a bit naïve, both in the depiction of somewhat stereotypical Indians of the period (at least to me) as well as the idea that such intrusion was welcomed by the Indigenous people at the time. But as this was created at the tail end of the age of Manifest Destiny, it is perhaps understandable. I'm certainly not an expert on the dress and customs of the tribes of the Northwest at the time of the first European ship's arrival at an Oregon shore, so perhaps it is indeed correct. As I understand it, the bronze doors "depict pivotal events in the historical development of the Columbia Basin." That makes sense.
Avard Tennyson Fairbanks was a prolific American sculptor. Three of his sculptures adorn the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Another adorns just about every Dodge, especially the trucks - he was the sculptor who created the Dodge Ram head. He was, for a while, a member of the faculty of the University of Oregon, which may be where some of the confusion arose. It is entirely possible that "Paul Walters" may have had a hand in the creation of the bronze, or perhaps he was on the faculty as well and was given this as a gift, but that specific knowledge has been lost to time. The bronze is signed with Fairbanks's mark but must have been signed in the wax as the plaster is unsigned in that spot or any other.
Without further ado, I present this lovely plaster plaque by Avard Fairbanks. Enjoy!
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| Panel from bronze door, Avard Fairbanks, bronze part of western façade door at US National Bank, Portland OR, plaster original ca. 1926-1927 |
