Administered by City of Charlottesville Department of Parks & Recreation 1300 Pen Park Road Charlottesville Virginia 22901
Located Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center Darden Towe Park Charlottesville Virginia 22901
Date:
Dedicated Nov. 21, 1919. Removed July 10, 2021
Notes:
Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.
Forrest, W. M., ed., "Unveiling Exercises; Lewis-Clark Statue; Charlottesville, Virginia," Charlottesville, VA: City of Charlottesville, 1919.
Art & Archeology 8 (Nov.-Dec. 1919): pg. 363.
Save Outdoor Sculpture, Virginia survey, 1994.
Image on file.
Art & Archeology 8 (Nov.-Dec. 1919): pg. 362.
(Front of base, middle section, raised:) MERIWETHER LEWIS/1774-1809/WILLIAM CLARK/1770-1838/BOLD AND FARSEEING PATHFINDERS/WHO CARRIED THE FLAG OF THE/YOUNG REPUBLIC TO THE WESTERN/OCEAN AND REVEALED AN UNKNOWN/EMPIRE TO THE USES OF MANKIND (Front of base, lower section, raised:) A TERRITORY OF 385,000 SQUARE MILES WAS ADDED TO THE/COUNTRY BY THE EFFORTS OF THESE MEN; AN AREA LARGER/THAN THE THEN EXISTING SIZE OF THE UNITED STATES signed
The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
Summary:
Figure group includes two standing males and one crouching female. Meriwether Lewis stands at the front with a rifle in his proper right hand. His proper left hand hangs at his side. William Clark stands on a rock behind Lewis and is a head higher. He has his proper left hand on Lewis's proper left shoulder. His proper right arm is bent at the elbow with his proper right hand near his chest. Both figures look straight ahead. To the proper left of both figures and behind Lewis, Sacajawea crouches on the rock upon which Clark stands. She wears Native-American dress, and her hair falls in long braids which she holds in her hands, with both arms bent at the elbow. Around the lower section of the bronze are four scenes in bas-relief representing activities of the expedition. On the front is a buffalo hunt, on the back is an Indian dance, one side has Lewis and Clark entering a council of Indians, while the other side shows Sacajawea returning to her tribe, with the party including one large African American. The upper section of the front of the granite base features reliefs of a small seal of the United States, a large American eagle, and a small seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The rest of the front of the base features inscriptions, and the other sides of the base feature reliefs of forests, mountains, and cliffs, united by the lines of a river.
