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As a member of the Cowboy Artists of America and the National Sculpture Society, John Coleman is one of the leading sculptors today portraying the historical nature and mythology of western subjects. These are among the many attributes that uniquely qualifies him to sculpturally pay tribute to explorer artists Bodmer and Catlin.
The first in the series, Addih-Hiddisch, Hidatsa Chief, was released in life-size at the Cowboy Artists of America Show at the Phoenix Art Musuem. It took Best of Show, the Gold Medal in sculpture and now sits in the permanent collection of the museum, a gift of the Western Art Associates.
In the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, historians/painters George Catlin (1796-1872) and Karl Bodmer (1809-1893) set out to capture the images of the people of a new land.
Today, these highly detailed portraits are some of the only records an artist like myself has to draw on for historical accuracy from this pre-photo era.
"For my new series, Explorer Artists, Bodmer/Catlin Series, I will be using portraits created in the 1830's of individuals from some of the tribes that Lewis and Clark encountered during their 1804 - 1806 expedition, and some 25 years later, were documented by Bodmer and Catlin. It is not my intention to add or take away from these works, but to use these portraits and extensive historic research to capture sculpturally, the essence of who these men really were; to interpret in my sculptural style a three dimensional portrait that will be a respectful complement to the original paintings."
The series will include ten standing figures and document several tribes, a record of which would never have been left to us were it not for the courage and dedication of these two painters - and the artful three-dimensional interpretations of John Coleman.
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