The Seven Mustangs, (sculpture).

The Seven Mustangs, (sculpture).

Proctor, A. Phimister, 1862-1950, sculptor.

Gorham Manufacturing Company, founder.

The Seven Mustangs, (sculpture).

Mustangs, (sculpture).

Commissioned 1937. Modeled 1939-1941. Cast 1947. Dedicated May 31, 1948.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.

Sculpture: approx. H. 16 ft. 4in. x 139 in. x 169 in.; Base: approx. 72 x 147 x 176 in.

(On proper left front of sculpture's bronze self-base:) A. PHIMISTER PROCTOR.1941 (On back of sculpture's bronze self-base:) Gorham Co. Founders MUSTANGS/THEY CARRIED THE MEN/WHO MADE TEXAS/PRESENTED TO/THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS/BY RALPH ROGERS OGDEN/AND/ETHEL OGDEN//ALEC PHIMISTER PROCTOR, SCULPTOR/MCMXLVII. (Northwest panel on base reads:) "IMMENSE HERDS OF WILD HORSES," STEPHEN/F. AUSTIN MARKED ACROSS VACANT SPACE ON/HIS MAP OF TEXAS, 1829. THE HORSE OF HISTORY/WAS NOT NATIVE TO THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE./"MESTENAS"-WHENCE MUSTANGS-WERE THE ES-/CAPED DESCENDANTS OF HORSES BROUGHT TO/AMERICA BY THE SPANIARDS. "NEXT TO GOD WE/OWED OUR VICTORY TO THE HORSES," WROTE THE/CHRONICLER OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. BE-/FORE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY WAS FAR ADVANCED,/BANDS OF MUSTANGS WERE RANGING OVER TEXAS/AND THE NORTHERN PLAINS, WILDER THAN DEER/AND AS FREER AS THE EAGLES. UNDER SADDLES, THEY/SHOWED A RAWHIDE HARDIHOOD. THEY HAD COW/SENSE AS WELL AS HORSE SENSE.

(Southwest panel on base:) THESE HORSES BORE SPANISH EXPLORERS/ ACROSS TWO CONTINENTS. THEY BROUGHT TO THE PLAINS INDIANS/THE AGE OF HORSE CULTURE./TEXAS COWBOYS RODE THEM TO EXTEND/THE RANCHING OCCUPATION CLEAR TO THE PLAINS/OF ALBERTA. SPANISH HORSE, TEXAS COW PONY,/AND MUSTANGS WERE ALL ONE IN THOSE TIMES/WHEN, AS SAYINGS WENT, A MAN WAS NO BETTER/THAN HIS HORSE AND A MAN ON FOOT WAS NO/MAN AT ALL. LIKE THE LONGHORN, THE MUSTANG/HAS BEEN VIRTUALLY BRED OUT OF EXISTENCE,/BUT MUSTANG HORSES WILL ALWAYS SYMBOLIZE/WESTERN FRONTIERS, LONG TRAILS OF LONGHORN/HERDS, SEAS OF PRISTINE GRASS, AND MEN RIDING/FREE IN A FREE LAND, J. FRANK DOBIE signed founders mark appears

Seven wild horses scrambling down an incline. A rearing stallion is surrounded by five mares and a colt. The sculpture is set atop a large granite base. Steps lead up to the memorial. The front of the base, divided into three sections, bears inscriptions and a quote from J. Frank Dobie, regarding the history of the wild horse in Texas.

Animal -- Horse -- Mustang

Outdoor Sculpture -- Texas -- Austin

University of Texas at Austin, Texas Memorial Museum, 2400 Trinity, Austin, Texas 78705

The sculpture was commissioned by Texan Ralph Ogden in 1937 and was base inscription provided by J. Frank Dobie. Dedicated as part of commencement exercises on May 31, 1948. Proctor's original model for the piece included only six mustangs and no colt; but after Proctor moved to Texas to complete the work, he added the colt figure. The wax models were finished in 1941, but the sculpture was not cast until 1947 because of war delays.

IAS files contain excerpt from Carl J. Eckhardt, ed., "Directory of Outdoor Statuary: The Univ. of Texas at Austin," (Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas, Office of Business Affairs, 1988), pg. 55-61; and Deby Childress, "Austin Art Adventures," (Austin: Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, College of Fine Arts, Univ. of Texas at Austin), pg. 26-27.

Texas Memorial Museum, 1988.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Texas, Austin survey, 1995.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.

Hendricks, Patricia D. & Becky Duval Reese, "A Century of Sculpture in Texas, 1889-1989," (Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas Press, 1989) pg. 33-36, 67.

Reichman, Bette Redman, ed., "Sculpture in Austin," (Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas at Austin, College of Fine Arts, Office of the Dean, 1989), pg. 4, 7.

Church, Phimister Proctor, 2000.

Hendricks, Patricia D. & Becky Duval Reese, "A Century of Sculpture in Texas, 1889-1989," (Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas Press, 1989), pg. 34.

Proctor, Alexander Phimister, "Alexander Phimister Proctor, Sculptor in Buckskin, an Autobiography," Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971, pg. 254-255.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

Control Number:

Horizon Information Portal 3.0

Powered by SirsiDynix

About | © 2020 Smithsonian | Terms of Use | Privacy | Contact

SIRIS - Smithsonian Institution Research Information System