The Boy Scout, (sculpture).

The Boy Scout, (sculpture).

McKenzie, R. Tait, 1867-1938, sculptor.

The Boy Scout, (sculpture).

1937. Copyrighted 1937. Dedicated 1969.

Sculpture: bronze.

Sculpture: approx. H. 6 ft.

Figure male -- Child -- Full length

Dress -- Uniform -- Scout Uniform

Occupation -- Service -- Scouting

Object -- Tool -- Axe

Outdoor Sculpture -- Texas -- San Antonio

Boy Scouts of America, Alamo Area Council, McGimsey Scout Park, San Antonio, Texas 78230

The Boy Scout statue was originally created as a 14 inch statuette. An updated life-size version was created in 1937, for the Philadelphia Boy Scout Council's new headquarters. Multiple copies of this 1937 version have been made and placed throughout the country. A total of five scouts posed for the statue between 1914 and 1937, and the final statue is a composite of its models. One of the artist's students, Joe Brown, helped with the enlargement.

The original installation site proposed for the Alamo Area Council's statue was the grounds of San Antonio's 1968 World's Fair, the HemisFair '68. As part of preparations for the HemisFair celebration, plans were made for the pedestal to have a time capsule, "The Half-Century Time Capsule" containing microfilm with the names of all Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Explorers in the Alamo Area Council. The time capsule was to be opened in 2018 on the 300th birthday of San Antonio. When the HemisFair's cultural committee decided not to include the Boy Scout statue, a new installation site was found at the Alamo Area Council's new headquarters in McGimsey Scout Park.

San Antonio Express-News, May 19, 2018.

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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