The Sioux Brave Blackpipe by Hermon Atkins MacNeil (February 27, 1866 – October 2, 1947)

Once again, I have managed to score an impressive win in this plaque of Hermon Atkins MacNeil's studio assistant and oft-time model, Joseph Black Pipe (Lakota: Canunpa Sapa). After purchasing my casting of "A Primitive Chant To The Great Spirit" (see previous post), I found in myself a strong desire to own other works that H. A. MacNeil created of this young man. The story was just too fascinating, the art too fine to not throw my hat into the ring at the auctions. I bid on this plaque on three separate occasions over the course of two years. I missed the auction the first time it came up on the block in 2018, much to my wallet's chagrin, and failed to meet the seller's reserve in two others. In that time I also bid on the other known copy of this plaque, but the price ran swiftly to a very uncomfortably high place (with the buyer's premium especially) and I had to bow out. When I saw this plaque pop up for sale again, this time on the world's largest online auction site (yeah, one of my favorite hunting grounds), I had to try one more time. The starting bid was the same as the final bid that won the other plaque (the person who outbid me), but I knew that I would come out ahead with this one as I wouldn't have to pay a buyer's premium of around 28% (yikes). That meant I could afford to bid higher, though I was still sweating it. I was over the moon when I was not even bid up, much less outbid. 

The seller (an antiques dealer) had the plaque sent to me via an art and antiques expediter and it arrived home a mere two days after the shipper received it. Everyone involved, from the seller to the expediter to the fellows who drove the van over 470 miles to hand-deliver it to me, were all top-notch. I run out of superlatives, truly I do. If any of you happen to read this, thank you!!

This is one of at least five castings of this piece in bronze that is known by me to exist at this time (the original, believed to have been destroyed, was made of plaster). At least two of the bronzes had been cast by the legendary Roman Bronze Works in New York. The other (second to appear on the market so far) has a very even and intact ferric patina and has the Roman Bronze Works mark directly beneath the artist's signature as was more typical after Salvatore Schiavo purchased RBW in 1946. Mine has areas of antique wear to the patina, most notably to the chin and left cheek, which leads me to believe that it was frequently touched on those spots by many a hand. The patina in these areas has developed from that long familiarity and has a uniqueness that would be impossible to duplicate. The foundry mark on mine is beneath the artist's signature but is on the side, near the rim, not visible on the front as on the other bronze copy from RBW. Because the patina is as unique as a fingerprint, I've been able track this plaque through three different auction venues, each with different images that used very different lighting.

 

I have also found mentions and pictures of at least two other bronze copies, though they may be the same one photographed at different times. One was in an 1895 picture of MacNeil's Chicago studio and the other from an old auction catalogue. The bases of the two are identical yet different from the copies cast by RBW. I believe they (or it, if they're the same one) were cast by Winslow Brothers Foundry in Chicago.

In June of 1893, Buffalo Bill opened his famous Wild West Show in Chicago, on 15 acres of land adjacent to the World Columbian Expostion, which was slated to open a month later. The artists who were working furiously to fill the Exposition with sculptures and decorations would spend their breaks at the Wild West Show next door. Many of those artists, including sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil, would hang out in the performers' encampment, seeking inspiration and making friends among the nearly 200 Sioux who Buffalo Bill Cody had brought to Chicago for the show (97 were paid performers, 100 were guests of Cody's). One of these Sioux was the young man, Joseph Black Pipe.

Joseph Black Pipe was born on March 7, 1878 in Niobrara, Nebraska, where the Ponca tribe has their headquarters today, but grew up on the Rosebud Lakota Reservation not far away in South Dakota. Not much is known of his life, but my research shows that he was educated as a child at the Catholic mission school in St. Francis, SD. He spoke, read and wrote English as well as Siouan, the Lakota tongue. One can only imagine that the 15-year-old Joseph would have been pretty popular among the visitors to the Wild West Show, as he was most likely pressed into translating for the older Lakota. One thing is certain, during that summer, he and 27-year-old Hermon Atkins MacNeil met and became friendly.

After the Exhibition closed on October 31, 1893 and Buffalo Bill's show closed a day later on November 1, young Black Pipe decided to remain behind in the city. Not long after, MacNeil was walking down a street in Chicago and found the impoverished Black Pipe cold and hungry. He offered his young friend food and a place to sleep in the studio in exchange for his help as an assistant and model. As MacNeil related to interviewer J. Walker McSpadden in 1924, immediately after he had gotten his friend warmed up and got a meal into him, he sat Black Pipe down and for the next four hours sculpted his face, expecting that in the morning "his Indian" would be gone. Black Pipe was not only still there in the morning, he stayed on in the position for the next year and a half. MacNeil went on to sculpt his likeness for what would arguably become some of his most well-known works. Not only did MacNeil's early sculptures of Black Pipe kick off his career as a professional sculptor, they brought him widespread fame and even a four year, all-expenses-paid scholarship to further study sculpture in Rome, Italy. 

In the same interview, MacNeil had pointed to a bronze of Black Pipe's head, full sized, set against a flat background as if he were poking his head through, hanging as a plaque on the wall. It is likely that if indeed only two bronzes of this plaque had been cast, this one was the bronze plaque referenced by McSpadden. According to the auctioneer who first sold it in 2018, this plaque had come from a gentleman in Connecticut several years prior who had been a principal at Roman Bronze Works. He had in his house a number of plasters, molds, bronzes and incomplete pieces of bronze statues that he'd brought home as the company was winding down their operations after the foundry closed. I was told that his house was "packed," even though he had been selling off items in a piecemeal fashion. The auctioneer had purchased it directly from the gentleman, who has since passed away. Research is ongoing.

 

A period photograph of the original plaster plaque was found among MacNeil's papers after his death. This photograph resides in the Archives of American Art, which is administered by the Smithsonian. It is identical to the two bronzes (mine and the other) save in the style in which the title was written. I do not believe that MacNeil had ever had this plaque cast in bronze while he lived in Chicago though I could well be wrong. Money was tight and work was thin on the ground for him for a while after the Exposition closed. While "Primitive Chant" had at least one copy cast in bronze by Winslow Brothers Foundry for Frank Lloyd Wright (a contemporary account held that Winslow Brothers only cast one) and two copies of his small "Vow of Vengeance" (later to be re-modeled as his famous "The Sun Vow"), most of his art was sold in plaster. I believe instead that the plaster original of this plaque was "stored" in the studio that he'd shared with his friend, painter Charles F. Browne, until he returned from his four-year sojourn in Italy in 1899. A photograph of the interior of the studio, taken while MacNeil was in Rome, clearly shows the plaque in the background with others of MacNeil's sculptures. The plaque would have been forwarded to New York upon his return from Rome as he did not settle again in Chicago.

 

While it is certain that one bronze was cast prior to the 1924 McSpadden interview, it is not yet known if any others had been cast at the same time. Cecelia MacNeil, Hermon's second wife, had several of her husband's more popular works cast posthumously by RBW as well. I have yet to start digging into the foundry records to see if I can discern when the two copies were cast, though it is likely to me that they were not cast at the same time. The other plaque looks "fresher," the patina seeming original and less aged from the auction listing photos. The placement of the foundry marks also represent different periods in RBW's history. On my plaque, the individual hairs of Black Pipe's eyebrows can be discerned. Not so on the other bronze plaque!

I have seen two plaster copies of this plaque as well, both painted, both found in Canada. One had been painted by the current owner's uncle (it had been painted to look like a bronze), the other was missing the upper portion of the background and the feather but looked to have had a more professional paint job. Drat! I missed the second one when it came up for sale.

I do believe that it could well have been since the passing of H. A. MacNeil that both this plaque and "Primitive Chant" have been in the same room together.

What we have here is a bronze plaque featuring the head of a handsome Lakota youth. The head is life sized, seeming to rest against a flat background, and the entire plaque is 25" from top to bottom. A lone feather stands in his hair at the back of his head. His wavy hair is shoulder length and parted on the right, the ends touching on a bear claw necklace around his throat. His expression seems dubious, perhaps even suspicious, as if the model wasn't quite sure about what was going on. At the bottom of the plaque is a legend that reads, "The Sioux Brave Blackpipe." To the right of the head is the artist's signature, "Mac Neil." Around the side, past the signature and along the back rim is the foundry mark "Roman Bronze Works N-Y-." The original ferric patina is worn in places, especially on the chin and left cheek. A natural patina has developed over a great deal of time that is remarkable in color, when viewed in good light. I have cleaned and waxed the bronze in keeping with my stewardship of this incredible work of fine art. I feel blessed that I get to have this beautiful plaque hanging on my wall.

Enjoy!

                  "The Sioux Brave Blackpipe" by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, bronze, modeled 1893, front, lit

                  "The Sioux Brave Blackpipe" by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, bronze, modeled 1893, front

                  "The Sioux Brave Blackpipe" by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, bronze, modeled 1893, right

                 "The Sioux Brave Blackpipe" by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, bronze, modeled 1893, left

                 "The Sioux Brave Blackpipe" by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, bronze, modeled 1893, title

                 "The Sioux Brave Blackpipe" by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, bronze, modeled 1893, signature

       "The Sioux Brave Blackpipe" by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, bronze, modeled 1893, foundry mark