Pioneer Woman

Copied Bryant Baker, Pioneer Woman, modeled 1927, cast 1968, bronze, 321516 18 in. (81.338.141.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1968.126

Artwork Details

Title
Pioneer Woman
Artist
Founder
Roman Bronze Works, Inc.
Date
modeled 1927, cast 1968
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
321516 18 in. (81.338.141.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Mediums
Mediums Description
bronze
Classifications
Keywords
  • Recreation — leisure — strolling
  • Figure group — female and child
  • History — United States — westward expansion
  • Dress — historic — pioneer dress
Object Number
1968.126

Artwork Description

In 1926, Bryant Baker won a competition to sculpt a seventeen-foot-high bronze monument in Ponca City, Oklahoma. He crafted this smaller version of Pioneer Woman before unveiling the monument on April 22, 1930, to a crowd that included President Herbert Hoover, humorist Will Rogers, and oil magnate E. W. Marland, who had funded the project. The monument's plaque stated that Baker created it "in appreciation of the heroic character of the women who braved the dangers and endured the hardships incident to the daily life of the pioneer and homesteader in this country." According to the sculptor, the boy personifies the future of the American West and the woman's bundle symbolizes the burden of life. The book under her right arm is the Bible, which Baker believed was "a vital factor in building up this country" ("Bryant Baker, Sculptor, Dies; Executed Busts of 5 Presidents," New York Times, March 31, 1970).