Lot 3070
Dave McGary (American, 1958-2013), Tools of the Trade, Study
Lot Details & Additional Photographs
The piece is a wall plaque casting depicting a Northern Plains-style warrior's regalia, including a full eagle-feather headdress with beadwork browband, a pipe tomahawk with heart-pierced blade and tack-studded haft, and a flintlock trade gun, over a beaded and fringed hide shirt in deep blue and ochre, a painted shield hung with red trade-leather drops and black-tipped feathers.
27 3/4 x 14 x 5 in.
Collection of the Leggett Family, Danville, Virginia
McGary grew up in Cody, Wyoming and is known for his realistic bronze Native American figural sculpture. In the 1970s he earned a grant to study bronze making with western sculptor Harry Jackson (American, 1924-2011) in Italy, with emphasis on casting techniques and Renaissance marble carving. After gaining further foundry experience working in New Mexico for several years, he became highly interested in Native American culture through his friendship with Sioux Indian families in South Dakota. McGary has won numerous awards for his works, including the Honorary Lifetime Alumni Award from Eastern New Mexico University. He has completed several large-scale public bronze monuments. In 1995, his monumental 225-foot-long bronze equine sculpture, Free Spirits at Noisy Water, was installed at Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico. McGary's work is included in various private collections, and is highly regarded not just for its intricacy and technical facility in capturing detail, but also for honoring the spirit of Native American culture. His sculptures occupy places of honor in an array of prestigious settings, including the Smithsonian Museum, the U.S. Capitol National Statuary Hall, the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, the Wyoming State Capital, the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum, the Gene Autry Museum, Concordia University and many more.
Good estate condition; plaque with one light scratch near upper left corner.
