Created by sculptor Bob Scriver in 1976, this sculpture of Buffalo Bill Cody acts as greeter to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a large complex of five museums concentrating on, not only Buffalo Bill himself, but the "Old West" as a whole, including the story of the Plains Indians and Western Art. This is one of many Buffalo Bill sculptures, photos and drawings one will find in his namesake town of Cody, both within the museum and around the town. The sculpture depicts Buffalo Bill standing with his cowboy hat in one hand and a Winchester repeating rifle in the other.
(1914–1999) was a Montana sculptor who was born on the Blackfoot reservation in Browning, Montana. A very prolific artist, Scriver's artwork, both full size works and tabletop pieces, can be found in private and public collections worldwide. Despite a late start, at age forty-six, his body of work comprises more than 1,000 sculptures.
During his long career, Scriver created more than 1,000 sculptures. He was adept at capturing the spirit and essence of rodeo and was also recognized for his classic sculptures of the Blackfoot Indians. He wrote and published several books, including surveys of his own work and a history of the Blackfoot artifacts in his collection. In 1969, in recognition of their high regard, the Blackfoot honored Scriver with the Little Dog Thunder Medicine Pipe. In 1990, he was presented the Governor’s Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts in Montana. Scriver simply wanted people to know that “I did an honest day’s work and that I was honest about what I did.”
From the Cowboy Artists of America
Buffalo Bill Cody
Hunting and killing over 4,000 buffalo earned Buffalo Bill Cody his nickname, and his status as an Old West legend was cemented with his traveling Wild West show.
Synopsis
Born near LeClaire in Scott County, Iowa, in 1846, Buffalo Bill Cody rode on the Pony Express at the age of 14, fought in the American Civil War, served as a scout for the Army, and was already an Old West legend before mounting his famous Wild West show, which traveled the United States and Europe.
Beginnings of a Legend
Born near LeClaire in Scott County, Iowa, on February 26, 1846, William F. Cody worked for a freight company as a messenger and wrangler before trying his luck as a prospector in the Pikes Peak gold rush in 1859. The next year, at age 14, Cody joined the Pony Express, fitting the bill for the advertised position: "skinny, expert riders willing to risk death daily."
Buffalo Bill: The Hero
Cody later served in the American Civil War, and in 1867 he began buffalo hunting (to feed constructions crews building railroads), which would give him the nickname that would define him forever. His own assessment puts the number of buffalo he killed at 4,280, in just over a year and a half.
In 1868, Cody returned to his work for the Army as chief of scouts (and his ongoing work with the military garnered him the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1872, which was subsequently stripped and then reinstated), all the while becoming a national folk hero thanks to the dime-novel exploits of his alter ego, "Buffalo Bill.” In late 1872, Cody went to Chicago to make his stage debut in The Scouts of the Prairie, one of Ned Buntline’s original Wild West shows (Buntline was also the author of the Buffalo Bill novels). The next year, "Wild Bill" Hickok joined the show, and the troupe toured for ten years.
Beyond a Showman
In 1883, Cody founded his own show, "Buffalo Bill's Wild West," a circus-like extravaganza that toured widely for three decades in the United States and later in Europe. Besides Buffalo Bill himself, the Wild West show starred sharpshooter Annie Oakley and, for one run, Chief Sitting Bull.
A champion of women’s rights and a lifelong soldier, Buffalo Bill Cody was more than just a Wild West showman and buffalo hunter. But his larger-than-life persona, at times real and at others fictitious, is what lives on in the hearts and minds of fans of the frontier West.
From Biography Dot Com