Massasoit, by Cyrus E. Dallin, sculpted in 1920 and it is on display in the Springville Museum of Art.

To see more by Cyrus visit this page and to see more of the museum visit this page.

In 1911 Dallin made a 40 inch clay sculpture of Massasoit, the friendly Indian chief of the Wampanoags tribe. It was he who met pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. This model was accepted by the Improved Order of Red Men for a monument to be placed near Plymouth Rock. The project was interrupted by World War I, which stalled fund raising. By 1920, the 300th anniversary of the pilgrims landing, the model was considerably modified into its present version.

The final version shows Massasoit as a muscular Indian. Actually, wrote Dallin, “The model for my Massasoit was a young Negro of magnificent figure. I was wanting a model, and happened to be calling upon John [Singer] Sargent, who was at work on his decorations for the Art Museum. I spoke of the matter. ‘Why not use my model,’ he said, ‘in the afternoon, sine I use him only in the forenoon?’ So that is what we did. The model was Apollo in the forenoon and Massasoit in the afternoon.”

The heroic-size bronze was erected at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1921. The original plaster was presented by Dallin in 1922 to the State of Utah where it was was displayed for many years in the rotunda of the capitol building. A bronze was cast and placed on the capitol grounds and the plaster was given to the Brigham Young University in Provo. They in turn made a bronze which was placed beside the library and the plaster was loaned to the Springville Museum of Art.