The Bowman and The Spearman
The Bowman and The Spearman are two bronze equestrian sculptures standing as gatekeepers in Congress Plaza at the entrance to Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois. Also known collectively as Equestrian Indians, or simply Indians, they were made in Zagreb by Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović and installed in 1928, with funding from the Benjamin Ferguson Fund. The sculptures were inspired by Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago. A notable feature is that both figures are missing their weapons, which the artist left out intentionally. In 2021, the sculptures were included in the Chicago Monuments Project, where they were recommended for recontextualisation rather than removal.
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Identification | |
| Title | The Bowman and The Spearman |
| Type | Two bronze equestrian sculptures |
| Number of sculptures | Two |
| Function | Gatekeepers |
| Also known as | Equestrian Indians; Horse Indians; Indians; Chicago Indians; the Indians |
Historical context | |
| Planning context | Based on Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago |
| Intended subject concept | One sculpture was intended to represent an Indian and the other white pioneer conquerors |
Creator | |
| Artist | Ivan Meštrović |
| Artist nationality | Croatian |
Discovery and provenance | |
| Created in | Zagreb |
| Date of creation | 1926–1927 |
| Installed | 1928 |
| Funding source | Benjamin Ferguson Fund |
Materials | |
| Material | Bronze |
Physical characteristics | |
| Current condition of weapons | The statues are missing their weapons |
| Subject | Two Native American horsemen: one archer and one spear-thrower or spearman |
| Weapons depicted | A bow and arrow and a spear were intended for the figures, but were never actually present |
Appearance | |
| Style | Heroic scale with bold lines, bristling energy, almost anatomically realistic musculature, linear treatment of the horses' manes and tails, and headdresses |
| Omitted detail | The weapons were intentionally omitted so attention would focus on the musculature, the horses' manes and tails, and the headdresses |
Iconography and meaning | |
| Symbolism | To symbolize both America's Indian heritage and its struggle for expansion |
Location and ownership | |
| Current location | Congress Plaza, at the intersection of Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue, Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Site description | At the entrance to the parkway and on Chicago's lakefront, in the area planned to extend from Michigan Avenue to the shore of Lake Michigan |
History and restoration | |
| Chicago Monuments Project status | Included in the Chicago Monuments Project in 2021 for evaluation of racially and historically problematic monuments |
| Project recommendation | Recontextualization through artistic interventions rather than removal |
| Public response | Public regarded the Indians as one of the least problematic monuments in the survey |
| Media and political response | Possible removal sparked extensive discussion in Croatian media and an official call for preservation from the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media |
Significance | |
| Art historical assessment | Described as among Meštrović's finest monumental sculptures; praised for sculptural feeling over ideology |
| Critical note | Criticized for romanticized and reductive images of American Indians |
Other | |
| Related artist biography | After completing statues in Europe and elsewhere, Meštrović returned to the United States and later taught at Syracuse University and the University of Notre Dame |