The Dream City, Paul V. Galvin 
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  PROCTOR'S COWBOY - Between Choral Hall and the Transportation Building, on the borders of the western lagoon, stood two groups of statuary that comported in size with the horses and bulls of French and Potter on the Grand Basin. "The Cowboy" is seen portrayed in our engraving. The companion-piece - an Indian on horse - may be partly discerned beyond "The Cowboy." A writer in the Chicago Record said: "It seems at first curious that a sculptor so familiar with animals should have made such bad horses, but the truth about this is that these statues were made in great haste, and the sculptor himself did not have time to make the horses, but left this work to his assistants almost entirely. The figures, on the contrary, are his own. The figure of the Cowboy, though spirited, is not so successful as the Indian. On the whole, these groups are exceedingly interesting. Such work marks Mr. Proctor as one of the rising sculptors of the day - one who is capable of doing very great work indeed." It is said that both Mr. Kemeys and Mr. Proctor have come to their exact knowledge of the shape of wild American animals by following the hunter's life in order to learn their art. These heroic pieces were not made for critical approach and study, as in the photograph. They were offered for the delectation of the distant passers in the lagoon, and in that regard served a beautiful and ingenious purpose.
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Page created: August 26, 1998