Princess Wenonah, (sculpture).

Princess Wenonah, (sculpture).

Kimball, Isabel Moore, 1863-1950, sculptor.

Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, founder.

Winona Monument Company, fabricator.

Princess Wenonah, (sculpture).

Commissioned 1900. Installed Aug. 26, 1902. Relocated 1993. Rededicated Sept. 25, 1993.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.

Sculpture: approx. H. 10 ft. x Diam. 4 ft.; Base: approx. H. 10 ft. x Diam. 4 ft.

(On turtles:) Henry Bonnard Bronze Co., Founders, N.Y. (On base, around top:) WE-NO-NAH GIFT OF W. J. LANDON IN MEMORY OF IDA CONE LANDON 1900 (On plaque:) The Statuary grouping of/WE-NO-NAH/and its turtles and pelicans was erected/in Central Park on August 26, 1902 and/incorporated in Levee Plaza 1977./WE-NO-NAH, meaning first born daughter/in the Dakota language, is the namesake/for our city and county. Legend tells of/her love for a simple hunter instead of/the warrior chosen by her father,/Chief Wahpashaw. Rather than marry/a man she didn't love, Wenonah climbed/to the top of a bluff overlooking the/river, proclaimed her true love and/jumped to her death./Donated by Portia Club/1979/MFG. By Winona Monument Co. Founder's mark appears.

Full-length figure of Sioux princess Wenonah stands on a cylindric base in the center of a low, round basin. She wears a fringed and beaded Indian dress with necklace and other accessories. Her long braided hair hangs down her back. She holds a bow and two arrows in her proper left hand and shades her eyes with her proper right hand. Three pelicans stand around the foot of the cylindric base. Their wings are raised upward and water spouts from their open mouths. Three turtles are installed on the outer rim of the basin, spaced evenly between the pelicans. Water also spouts from their open mouths.

Portrait female -- Wenonah, Princess -- Full length

Ethnic -- Indian -- Sioux

Portrait female -- Tahamont, Beulah -- Full length

Ethnic -- Indian -- Abnaiki

Dress -- Ethnic -- Indian Dress

Animal -- Bird -- Pelican

Animal -- Reptile -- Turtle

Homage -- Landon, Ida Cone

Object -- Weapon -- Bow and Arrow

Outdoor Sculpture -- Minnesota -- Winona

Administered by City of Winona, Park and Recreation Department, City Hall, Winona, Minnesota 55987

Located Windom Park, Broadway & Huff Street, Winona, Minnesota

Commissioned in 1900 by William J. Landon in memory of his wife, Ida Cone Landon as a gift to the City of Winona. The dress was reproduced from an actual garment owned by the descendants of a Sioux Indian woman. The jewelry and other ornamentation was copied from various museum pieces and from a painting of a Sioux woman by George Catlin. Beulah Tahamont, a young Abnaiki Indian woman, was the main model for the piece. The sculpture was originally installed in Central Park (Winona, MN). It was moved to Main Street and Lake Drive when a post office was built on the park site. It was later relocated to downtown Winona at Plaza East, before being moved to its current site in 1993. IAS files contain articles from the Winona Daily News, Aug. 30, 1902 and the Winona Saturday Morning Post, July 5, 1980.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Minnesota survey, 1995.

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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