The Vow of Vengeance

Arts of the Americas

1894

Hermon Atkins MacNeil
American, 1866–1947

Hermon Atkins MacNeil modeled The Vow of Vengeance in Chicago in 1894, a year after he had worked on sculptural decorations for the World’s Columbian Exposition. He grew interested in Native American culture at the fair, where he encountered ethnographic displays and performers from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. His first freestanding Indian sculpture, The Vow of Vengeance depicts an elder chieftain guiding a young brave as he shoots an arrow skyward. The individualistic modeling of the man suggests study from life, while the youth’s graceful pose adheres more closely to neoclassical idealism. The sculpture later served as inspiration for The Sun Vow, MacNeil’s large-scale bronze (1926.1503).

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Hermon Atkins MacNeil
Title: The Vow of Vengeance
Place: United States (Artist's nationality)
Date: 1894
Medium: Bronze
Inscriptions: Vow of Vengeance/HA MacNeil/94
Dimensions: 42.6 × 18.7 × 21.6 cm (16 3/4 × 7 3/8 × 8 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Wesley M. Dixon Jr.
Reference Number: 2001.435
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Thayer Tolles et al., “The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925,” exh. cat. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013).

St. Louis, Missouri Historical Society, The 1904 World’s Fair: Looking Back at Looking Forward, Apr. 30, 2004 – Feb. 28, 2005.

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