Hiram Powers
The Last of the Tribes

ArtistAmerican, 1805–1873
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • The Last of the Tribes
Date1867–1874
PlaceUnited States
MediumMarble
Dimensions66 × 20 1/2 × 33 in. (167.6 × 52.1 × 83.8 cm)
Base: 38 × 24 × 24 in. (96.5 × 61 × 61 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Agnes Cullen Arnold Endowment Fund
Object number2000.532
Current Location
The Audrey Jones Beck Building
110 Glassell Sculpture Court
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
American Art
Object Type
Description

According to Hiram Powers, the most celebrated American sculptor of the 19th century, this partially nude marble figure represents a Native American woman who is “run[ning] in alarm, looking back in terror . . . fleeing before civilization.” The sculpture illustrates the view, popular at the time, of Native Americans as “noble savages,” doomed to extinction because their traditional ways were being threatened by the westward expansion of the United States.


In The Last of the Tribes, graceful, undulating lines capture all the nuances of the figure’s form and demeanor. The subject is dressed in an exquisitely detailed skirt, with diamond patterning throughout and tassels that give the sense of movement as she runs. Part contemplative mood, as suggested in the graceful and noble turn of her head, and part high drama (she flees from cultures in conquest), this sculpture projects a poignant and romantic image of a so-called vanishing culture shortly before the Indian Wars ended native self-autonomy.


Of note is that Powers accomplished this effect from his vantage point of Florence, Italy, using an Italian woman as a model and creating a fantastical costume that never existed in any Native American culture (except for the Ohio moccasins she wears that apparently formed a part of Powers’s studio collection). This potent combination of fantasy, romance, and morality often permeates art of the Victorian era.   


ProvenanceDavid H. Haight, New York; Catholina Lambert, paterson, New Jersey; Catholina Lambert Sale, American Art Galleries, "The Famous Catholina Lambert Collection", Feb. 21-24, 1916, lot 394 as Hiawatha, unsold Antiques Dealer, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania c. 1953; David Burliuk, Wantagh, New York; Nicholas Burliuk (son of David Burliuk), Wantagh, New York, thence by descent.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed on the back of the base: " H. POWERS/ Sculp."

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Faith
Hiram Powers
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2005.976
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Gold, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and copper
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2004.2263
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c. 1890
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c. 1890
Gold, rubies, and diamonds
2004.2264.1,.2
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Gustave Courbet
c. 1865
Oil on canvas
2002.216