Hiawatha and Minnehaha, (sculpture).

Hiawatha and Minnehaha, (sculpture).

Fjelde, Jacob, 1859-1896, sculptor.

Berchem, Jules, 1855-1930, founder.

American Bronze Company, founder.

Hiawatha and Minnehaha, (sculpture).

Commissioned 1892. 1893. Relocated 1911. Dedicated Oct. 5, 1912.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: concrete.

Sculpture: approx. 89 x 33 x 32 in.; Base: approx. 31 x 54 x 45 in.

(On side of statue:) J. Fjelde/Sculpr./1893/American Art Bronze Foundry J. Berchem Chicago Ill. (On front of sculpture:) "Over wide and rushing rivers/In his arms he bore the maiden"/Longfellow signed Founder's mark appears.

Full-length figures of the fictional Indian brave Hiawatha carrying his bride, Minnehaha, across water. Hiawatha wears a necklace, buckskin trousers and has a quiver on his back. There is a tomahawk on his proper right hip. Minnehaha wears a dress and headband.

Literature -- Longfellow -- Song of Hiawatha

Literature -- Character -- Hiawatha

Literature -- Character -- Minnehaha

Dress -- Ethnic -- Indian Dress

Outdoor Sculpture -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis

Administered by City of Minneapolis, Minneapolis Arts Commission, 350 South 5th Street, City Hall, Room 200, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415

Located Minnehaha Park, Hiawatha Avenue & 50th Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Formerly located Minneapolis Public Library, 10th & Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 1892-1911.

World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.

Commissioned in 1892 by the Minnesota Women's Auxiliary Board for placement in Minnehaha Park after its exhibition at the Chicago World's Fair. $1,000 was raised for the commission through a penny subscription of Minnesota's school children. The Board held a competition for a piece with a "Hiawatha" theme, and this design was selected. The plaster version was exhibited at the Fair, and was then exhibited at the Minneapolis Athenaeum, pending casting in bronze. Plans for casting were delayed when the Minneapolis Arts Commission rejected the statue on artistic grounds. After public outcry and the raising of additional funds by Mrs. L. P. Hunt of Mankato who had initiated the project, the Commission's decision was reversed. The sculpture was installed at its current site in 1911. IAS files include a survey form from the Commission, related articles from Twin Cities Magazine, (March, 1986) and from the Fjelde Collections of the Norwegian-American Historical Association.

For related reading, see "The Divided Heart: Scandinavian immigrant artists, 1850-1950: October 1-November 7, 1982, University Gallery, University of Minnesota," (Minneapolis: The Gallery, [1982]) and "Painting and Sculpture in Minnesota, 1820-1914," by Rena Neumann Coen, (Minneapolis: Published by the University of Minnesota Press for the University Gallery of the University of Minnesota, c1976). See also the Minneapolis Public Library Special Collections File: Sculpture: Hiawatha and Minnehaha. IAS files also include the text of a nearby commemorative plaque.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Minnesota, Minneapolis - St. Paul survey, 1993.

Minneapolis Journal, Nov. 8, 1914, pg. 4.

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

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