4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2012.

The Sun Vow

Artist Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947)

Manufacturer Roman Bronze Works (American)

CultureAmerican

Datemodeled 1898-1899, cast ca. 1925

MediumBronze

Dimensions33 x 21 x 23 in. (83.8 x 53.3 x 58.4 cm)

InscribedInscribed on base at rear: H. A. Mac Neil; Sc.; Inscribed on base at right: THE SVN VOW; Inscribed on base at left: ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N.Y.;

Credit LineGift of the Norfolk Society of Arts

Object number32.6.1

Collections

American Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis bronze statue of two Native Americans, a young boy and seated man, tells a story of the rites of passage. The young boy holds an empty bow pointed towards the sky, as if the arrow has just released, pointed toward the sun. He must prove he has strength enough to make it vanish from sight. He stands next to an older man who is seated on a rock covered with fur. The elder squints up at the sun in the direction of the disappeared arrow. There is a full-feathered headress over his lap. Their heads are close together and his long hair is parted into two braids while the young boy's flows loose and free.

Label TextHermon Atkins MacNeil American, 1866–1947 The Sun Vow, modeled 1898–99, cast ca. 1925 Bronze cast by Roman Bronze Works, White Plains, New York With grace and confidence, an Indian boy aims his arrow directly into the sun. His teacher squints to judge whether the shot’s precision will earn the young archer official passage into manhood. The detailed hairstyles, headdress, and moccasins attest to sculptor Hermon MacNeil’s knowledge of Native American costume. Meanwhile, the smooth curves of the nude bodies, echoing the elegant form of the raised bow, reveal admiration for the graceful naturalism of Auguste Rodin’s bronzes. The Sun Vow was an early gift to the Museum, and its blend of American history and European style set an ambitious tone for this collection. Gift of the Norfolk Society of Arts 32.6.1 ProvenanceCommittee of the Norfolk Society of Arts purchased with the proceeds from the sale of the _Commemorative Exhibition by Members of the National Academy of Design 1825-1925_ catalogue; Gift of The Norfolk Society of the Arts to the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, July 20, 1932; to The Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, 1971. Exhibition History"Exposition Universelle," Paris, France, 1900. Received silver medal. (This is probably not the exact cast, but a version of the same). Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, N.Y., 1901. (This is probably not the exact cast, but a version of the same). Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo., 1904. (This is probably not the exact cast, but a version of the same). "Commemorative Exhibition by Members of the National Academy of Design 1825-1925," Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., October 17 - November 15, 1925; The Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, N.Y., December 1, 1925 - January 3, 1926. (Exh. cat. p. 63) "The Valley of the Shadow: American Landscapes in the Time of the Civil War," The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, August 31 - December 16, 2012. "From Alaska to the Mountain Peaks of Central Mexico: Depicting Native American Life in the Late Nineteenth Century," The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, June 7 - August 4, 2013. "Writer's Eye 2013," The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, August 27 - November 22, 2013.Published ReferencesLoredo Taft, _The History of American Sculpture_ (1903), 443-444, fig. 73. (This is not the exact cast, but a version of the same). National Academy of Design, _Commemorative Exhibition by Members of the National Academy_, exh. cat., National Academy of Design, New York, N.Y., 1925, 63. (This is not the exact cast, but a version of the same). Patricia Janis Broder, with foreward by Dr. Harold McCracken, _Bronzes of the American West_ (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1973), fig. 81. **The sculpture is misdated in this book. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 126, no. 76. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6