The Dying Indian
1900s
Charles Cary Rumsey
American, 1879-1922
American Art
As part of his 2020 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, Jeffrey Gibson commissioned a pair of beaded moccasins from the artist John Little Sun Murie to adorn this early twentieth-century bronze, which portrays a stereotyped “dying” Native warrior. Through this gesture, Gibson and Murie interrupt the myth that Native Americans were doomed to extinction, one perpetuated by traditional narratives of U.S. history and sculptures like this one.
The title of Murie’s moccasins, rendered in beadwork at Gibson’s request along each shoe’s buckskin edge, comes from Roberta Flack’s song “See You Then.” Gibson and Murie honor the Native subject rendered anonymous by the sculpture’s original artist, reclaiming his story as one of dignity, strength, and survival.
The title of Murie’s moccasins, rendered in beadwork at Gibson’s request along each shoe’s buckskin edge, comes from Roberta Flack’s song “See You Then.” Gibson and Murie honor the Native subject rendered anonymous by the sculpture’s original artist, reclaiming his story as one of dignity, strength, and survival.
- Maker/Artist
- Rumsey, Charles Carey
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Formatted Medium
- Bronze
- Medium
- bronze
- Dimensions
- 113 x 101 x 31 in. (287 x 256.5 x 78.7 cm) sight measurement June 29 2018: 98 × 34 × 111 in. (248.9 × 86.4 × 281.9 cm) storage (2022 storage volume on custom skid): 104 × 116 × 19 in. (264.2 × 294.6 × 48.3 cm)
- Departments
- American Art
- Accession Number
- 30.917
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Charles Cary Rumsey
- Exhibitions
- Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks, The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time
- Rights Statement
- Creative Commons-BY
- Museum Location
- This item is not on view
Have a concern, a correction, or something to add?
