Cyrus E. Dallin

The son of Mormon pioneers, Cyrus Dallin was born in the settlement of Springville, Utah, and exhibited a talent for sculpting from a young age. He was sent to Boston in the 1880s to study with Truman Bartlett and then went on to the Académie Julian in Paris. While in Paris, Dallin saw Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and became interested in western American subjects. He used one of the Lakota performers as a model for The Sign of Peace, the first in his series of four Native American equestrian statues. He completed and exhibited the other three in the series after his return to America in 1891. His work is noted for its detail and naturalistic modeling. In addition to his Native American works Dallin sculpted other American figures, including an equestrian statue of Paul Revere that stands near Boston’s Old North Church, and the Angel Moroni for the apex of the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.