James Earle Fraser
American, 1876 - 1953
Fraser designed the five-cent “buffalo nickel” that was issued in 1913. He used three different Indians to obtain the portrait. One was the Sioux chief Iron-Tail. The bison on the reverse was modeled after Black Diamond in the New York Zoo, slaughtered in 1915 and mounted. Fraser made the figure full, intending no inscription, so there was no room for “In God We Trust.” His statue The End of the Trail was the most popular work at the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco in 1915. There were more requests for purchase of this design than any other work. It was also issued in various usual bronze sizes, and has been reissued by Modern Art foundry.
In 1968, the Cowboy Hall of Fame acquired and restored the original 16’ plaster of The End of the Trail.
Resource: SAMUELS’ Encyclopedia of ARTISTS of THE AMERICAN WEST,
Peggy and Harold Samuels, 1985, Castle Publishing
Person TypeIndividual
Terms
American, born Denmark, 1899 - 1988
American, born England, 1858 - 1923
American, born Switzerland. Born April 25, 1907, Engelberg, Swit, 1907 - 1984