Forging America: The Wolf Family Collection

Alexander Phimister Proctor

Pursuit of the King of the Herd

Auction Closed

April 20, 05:26 PM GMT

Estimate

80,000 - 120,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Alexander Phimister Proctor

1862 - 1950

Pursuit of the King of the Herd

inscribed A. PHIMISTER PROCTOR SCULPTOR and © / 1917 (on the base); inscribed GORHAM Co. FOUNDERS and stamped GAC (along the base)

bronze

18½ in. (47 cm.) high

Conceived in 1914; this example cast circa 1917.

Board of Directors, American Tobacco Company, Durham, North Carolina
George Washington Hill, New York (acquired as a gift from the above)
Percival Hili
Sotheby's New York, April 25, 1980, lot 172 (consigned by the above)
Wolf Family Collection No. 0460 (acquired from the above)

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984-96 (on loan)

Patricia J. Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1974, no. 109, pp. 118, 224, 413, illustration of another cast
Exh. Cat., Kalispell, Montana, Ace Powell Art Galleries, Inc., Studies in Bronze by A. Phimister Proctor, 1975, p. 14, illustration of another cast
Peter H. Hassrick, Wildlife and Western Heroes: Alexander Phimister Proctor, Sculptor, Fort Worth, Texas, 2003, pp. 186-89, illustration of another cast

Pursuit of the King of the Herd, alternatively called Buffalo Hunt, was conceived by Alexander Phimister Proctor in 1914. By the time that Proctor modeled this figure, Charles M. Russell had gained critical acclaim for his own Buffalo Hunt, a fact that Proctor would have read about in the papers as early as 1911 and likely seen in person (Peter H. Hassrick, Wildlife and Western Heroes: Alexander Phimister Proctor, Sculptor, Fort Worth, Texas, 2003, p. 187).

In order to create this dynamic scene in which a Native American hunter overcomes his prey, Proctor needed to employ an appropriate model. He selected Jackson Sundown, the nephew of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe. Famed for surviving a battle by clinging to the side of his horse, Sundown was also widely known for his skillful participation in rodeos. "Every day Sundown rode back and forth in front of me or posed quietly while I modeled details," Proctor recalls of the process between him and his sitter (ibid). The resulting work was cast in bronze and exhibited across the nation. Pursuit of the King of the Herd captures the energy and urgency of the hunt, with Proctor juxtaposing the spirit and speed of the horse against the strength of the bison. As the hunter on horseback reaches across to spear his prey, he demonstrates a great deal of determination and drive.