Cardiff Giant, (sculpture).

Cardiff Giant, (sculpture).

Burkhardt, Edward, sculptor.

Cardiff Giant, (sculpture).

Carved July-Aug. 1868.

Digital Reference:

Approx. H. 11 ft. (3,000 lbs.).

A colossal male figure with proper right hand held to his body and his proper left arm missing.

Figure male -- Full length

Figure male -- Nude

Ethnic -- Indian

Outdoor Sculpture -- New York -- Cooperstown

Administered by New York State Historical Association, Lake Road, Route 80, Cooperstown, New York 13326

Located Farmers' Museum, P. O. Box 800, Cooperstown, New York 13326

Carved secretly in 1868, the sculpture was created as a hoax perpetrated by George Hull, a cigar maker and get-rich-quick artist from Binghamton, New York. Hull, an atheist, got the idea in 1866 during an argument with a revivalist minister over the Bible passage, "There were giants in the earth in those days" (Genesis 6:4). Two years later he ordered a huge block of Gypsum from Ft. Dodge, Iowa and had it shipped to Chicago stonecutter Edward Burkhardt who was sworn to secrecy. Hull supervised the carving of the giant figure, treated it with sulfuric acid to make it appear aged, and pounded its surface with a mallet covered in needles to give the figure's skin an appearance of pores.

When the work was completed, Hull shipped it to Union, New York and in Nov. 1868, he secretly moved the sculpture to Cardiff, a New York village steeped in Native-American lore, where it was interred on the farm of William C. "Stub" Newell. A year later, on October 16, 1869, Newell played the part of the farmer who discovers the sculpture while having a well dug. Word of the petrified Native-American figure spread and people flocked to the site, paying fifty cents for a glimpse of this archeological find.

The hoax continued as scientific experts provided various explanations, and on Oct. 23, 1869, Newell, acting for Hull, sold three-quarters interest in the sculpture to five local businessmen for $30,000. On Nov. 5th, the sculpture was removed and shipped to Syracuse to provide a better exhibition space. By the end of November, however, the scheme fell apart as reporters investigated Hull and Newell, and in December, Hull was forced to admit the hoax. The sculpture continued to be exhibited, but as interest died down, it was sold several times and eventually stored in a Fitchburg, Massachusetts barn.

In 1901, the sculpture was exhibited at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. From 1913 to the mid-1930s, the sculpture was exhibited between Syracuse, New York and Ft. Dodge, Iowa. In 1936, publisher Gardner Cowles bought the figure for his private collection, and in 1947, the sculpture was sold to the Farmers' Museum where it was exhibited outdoors for several decades. In May 1994, the sculpture was placed in a special exhibition shed built on the grounds of the Farmers' Museum.

IAS files contain a press release from the New York State Historical Association and The Farmers' Museum and a 1994 brochure published by the New York State Historical Association.

Riedy, James L., "Chicago Sculpture," Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1981.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York survey, 1994.

Riedy, James L., "Chicago Sculpture," Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1981, pg. 286.

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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