The Pioneer Woman monument is a bronze sculpture in Ponca City, Oklahoma, designed by Bryant Baker and dedicated on April 22, 1930. The statue is of a sunbonneted woman leading a child by the hand. It was donated to the State of Oklahoma by millionaire oilman E. W. Marland. He commissioned models from twelve well-known sculptors and financed a nationwide tour to get feedback from art critics and the general public in order to decide which model to use for the final statue.
Design and construction Around 1925 Marland sketched out an ambitious sculptural program to sculptor Jo Davidson involving numerous statues based on the theme of the settling of the American West and attempted to persuade Davidson to take it on. When Davidson declined Marland replies that he could pay for it, prompting Davidson to come back with "I don't doubt it for a minute, but I don't see myself working for you for the rest of my life." Marland ultimately convinced Davidson to go to Ponca City, Marland's then home town, and create three statues for him: one of Marland and one of each of Marland's adopted children, Lydie and George.
While Davidson was producing his three Marland statues E.W. told him of another project that he has in mind, "E.W.'s most cherished dream." Davidson writes, " It was to be a twenty-five foot figure, which he planned to put up on a hill where it could be seen for miles ... E.W. brought his friends to see what I was doing. He acted as if he was the sculptor, and in conversation would say that he was doing the figure - that I was his hands."Davidson. Jo, Between Sittings: An informal autobiography of Jo Davidson, The Dial Press, NY 1951 pp. 210-215
The models At that point Marland sent out invitations to many of America's leading sculptors, offering them each a $10,000 honorarium to produce a roughly tall bronze model for the statue. He further proposed that the models tour the United States and that the American public vote as to which of the models would be erected in Ponca City. Several sculptors, Daniel Chester French, George Grey Barnard and Paul Manship turned Marland down, also declining were the only two women invited, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Anna Hyatt Huntington,The Art News, Vol. XXV - No. 21, February 26, 1927 leaving him with an even dozen artists, all males. The artists who submitted models were Bryant Baker, A, Stirling Calder, Jo Davidson, James Earle Fraser, John Gregory, F. Lynn Jenkins, Mario Korbel, Arthur Lee, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, Maurice Sterne, Mahonri Young, and Wheeler Williams. The models were to tour America and everyone who visited the sites where they were exhibited was allowed to vote for their favorite.Exhibition of Models for a Monument to the Pioneer Woman, at the Chicago Architectural Exhibition, East Gallerias, Art Institute of Chicago, June 25 to August 1, 1927
Marland's original idea was to have a woman in pioneer dress accompanied by a child, and so he provided a sunbonnet to each sculptor. While the artists were not limited to these ideas, nine of the twelve models included a sunbonnet and all save for Jo Davidson's included a child. Both Davidson and Calder visited Oklahoma to gain further inspiration.
Mahonri Young's biographer Thomas Toone relates that Young produced not only the required three foot tall statuette, but also a plaster version of the entire Pioneer Memorial as he envisioned it, replete with detailed bas-reliefs of western scenes around the base of a massive pedestal and platform, on top of which the pioneer woman "holds her child in the embrace of a Renaissance Madonna."Toone, Thomas, Mahoni Young: His Life and Art, Signature Books, Salt Lake City Utah, 1997 pp. 126-129 A pair of spirited bison guard the stairs leading up the base. The voting public was not privy to Young's vision and his work showed poorly in the balloting. Young, who described not winning the competition as the worst disappointment in his career, did manage to get some of his ideas out in later works.
Toone also adds that the winning sculptor, Baker Bryant used, "a professional actress as his model, which produced a glamorous figure, representing Western myth more than reality."Toone, Thomas, Mahoni Young: His Life and Art, Signature Books, Salt Lake City Utah, 1997 p. 127
There are some questions raised about the winning design by Donald De Lue, at that time Baker Bryant's chief assistant. De Lue's biographer, D. Roger Howlett makes several points about the Pioneer Woman statue.
"it was especially on the "Pioneer Woman" that De Lue manifest his talent ... ... Baker claimed that the conception and movement of the final monument was developed in an eight-to-ten inch sketch model made by him a few hours after he learned about the competition. De Lue executed the thirty-three inch competition model for the sculpture in 1927, with Baker supervising and completing the face."Howlett, D. Roger, The Sculpture of Donald De Lue: Gods, Prophets, and Heroes, David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston 1990, p. 21 Baker was also the last sculptor to enter the contest having only one month to prepare his model.
James Earle Fraser based his almost Impressionistic statue on his favorite aunt, Dora, who was herself a pioneer woman. This model is unique among the ones submitted to the competition, and perhaps in the entire world of Pioneer Women Statues, in that the woman, caught breast feeding her child, exposes a bare breast. No stranger to multi-tasking, she still manages to hold on to her rifle while feeding the baby.Freundlich, A.L., The Sculpture of James Earle Fraser, Universal Publishers 2001, pp. 77-79
Many years after the competition Wheeler Williams' model was re-discovered, enlarged, cast, and now sits in front of the public library in Liberty, Kansas.
The tour The submitted bronze models were unveiled at the Reinhardt Galleries in New York on February 26, 1927, where they remained in exhibition until March 19. At a dinner for the twelve finalists the evening before the models were revealed to the public, Marland announced:
Marland reserved the right to make the final choice for the monument, but he sought input from the public and so these models then began a tour of museums and art galleries across the nation. From its opening at the Reinhardt Galleries, the tour moved on. Stops included Boston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Fort Worth, and Ponca City. At each location visitors were invited to vote for their three favorite models. In all over 750,000 people viewed the models and over 120,000 votes were placed.
The models were the subject of much discussion at the time, and photographs of them were included in full-page pictorials of both the New York Times and the LA Times. Art critics discussed the merits of one model over another and almost universally lambasting the sunbonnets as "terrible headwear". The models were even the subject of writing assignments for elementary school art classes.
The L.A. Times reported that art critic Helen Appleton Read felt that "no adequate tribute had been paid to the pioneer woman" and that "most of the competitors failed to produce anything monumental".
On December 20, 1927, E. W. Marland's son George announced that Bryant Baker's model was selected as the winner. Baker's model received the most votes in 11 cities and Gregory's was the second most popular, being the favorite in three cities.
When the tour of the models was over, Baker's Pioneer Woman had won first place, out-balloting John Gregory's effort 42,478 to 37,782. "De Lue set to work in 1928 and 1929, modeling it in Baker's Brooklyn studio, working with Jean La Seure, the enlarger. De Lue later remembered: "One day Bryant decided he would work on it, and did some work. I said, 'Look, Bryant, if I were you I'd get the hell out of here, because you're not helping at all,' He said, 'Thank you very much.' and he went."Howlett, D. Roger, The Sculpture of Donald De Lue: Gods, Prophets, and Heroes, David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston 1990 p. 21
Fundraising and construction The cost of the Pioneer Woman project was approximately $350,000. This included a $10,000 honorarium for each of the twelve finalists plus $100,000 for the winner Bryant Baker. The remainder of the costs were accrued during the tour around the country and arranging the base for the statue. While the vast majority of the project was funded by Marland, his fortunes were on the decline at this time and so he was forced to seek additional funding to complete the project. Some private fundraising helped to defray the final costs and $25,000 was supplied by Lew Wentz, Marland's long-time business rival as well as fellow philanthropist of Ponca City. After much private debate and encouragement, Lew Wentz in 1929 loaned money to Marland enabling him to make final payments for the statue, secured by a real estate mortgage and arranged by a local banker, resulting in Wentz filing a lawsuit in 1936 to collect on the non-performing loan [see Ada Weekly News, 12 March 1936].
Marland had purchased 2,000 acres on which to place the statue. The area where the statue was erected stands just off of U.S. Route 77, a mile northeast of the center of Ponca City.
Baker said the work took years off of his life and he was afraid he would die before completion.
Dedication
On April 16, 1930, it was announced that the statue would be unveiled on April 22, 1930, on the 41st anniversary of the Land Run of 1889 which opened the Oklahoma Territory to settlers. The day was declared a state holiday by the governor and the celebration in Ponca City included a parade, 19-gun salute. An estimated 40,000 people attended the unveiling.
The dedication itself began at 1:30 pm central time with a nationwide radio address on WJZ by United States President Herbert Hoover broadcasting from the White House. He introduced the native Oklahoman, Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley who had intended to attend the unveiling in person before his visit was curtailed by illness and so spoke from his home. After the first half-hour the broadcast continued from Ponca City. Other speakers during the 90 minute broadcast were Marland, Baker, Episcopal Bishop of Oklahoma Thomas Casady, Oklahoma Governor William J. Holloway, and Oklahoma humorist, Will Rogers, who closed the unveiling ceremonies.
History since dedication The area surrounding the statue has been designated as Pioneer Woman State Park. In 2002 the Pioneer Woman statue underwent renovations, including the repair of a 4-inch crack in the heel of the boy's left boot. "This is the first professional restoration of the statue since the artist himself directed a cleaning a few years after it was erected," said Kathy Dickson, Historical Society museums director. "Where the mortar is still in place, damage is being caused by the type of mortar. Where it is missing, water is accelerating damage - especially in winter as water penetrates the cracks and expands when temperatures dip below freezing." Pledges of $75,000 were made by private foundations, individual donors, the Northern Oklahoma Development Authority, the city of Ponca City and Conoco to pay for repairs, lighting and landscaping around the statue.The Oklahoman. "Repairs, improvements ahead for Ponca City pioneer statue" by Dawn Marks. September 7, 2002
The Pioneer Woman Museum
On September 16, 1958, the 65th anniversary of the opening of the Cherokee Outlet which included the land of Ponca City, the state opened the Pioneer Woman Museum, on land adjacent to the monument. An image of the Pioneer Woman statue serves as the de facto logo of the museum. On April 23, 2016, the Oklahoma Historical Society and the Friends of the Pioneer Woman Statue and Museum celebrated the opening of the new entrance and lobby at the Pioneer Woman Museum.Ponca City Now. "Pioneer Woman Museum to celebrate renovations". April 8, 2016.