Hermon Atkins MacNeil (American, 1866–1947)
Cast by Roman Bronze Works (American, founded 1897)
The Sun Vow
INV-3167
Hermon Atkins MacNeil (American, 1866–1947)
Cast by Roman Bronze Works (American, founded 1897)Modeled 1898, cast 1901
The Sun Vow
Hermon Atkins MacNeil (American, 1866–1947) Cast by Roman Bronze Works (American, founded 1897) →sculptureamerican arts
Date
Modeled 1898, cast 1901
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
H.: 176.5 cm (69 1/2 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Bequest of Howard Van Doren Shaw
Sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil imagined a rite of manhood in this portrayal of a Native American elder guiding a boy as he shoots an arrow skyward. The pair follows its ascent until it is lost in the sun’s rays. It was through the distorted lens of ethnographic displays at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago as well as Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows that MacNeil’s interest in Indigenous cultures developed. He modeled The Sun Vow apart from any meaningful contact with Native peoples, executing it in Rome in 1898. MacNeil’s study of classical sculptures in Italy is visible here in the attentive rendering of the human form and harmonious lines of the figures’ silhouettes.