A trio of larger-than-life bison sculptures will be displayed outside the Field Museum later this month as part of a cross-country tour.
The sculptures are coming to Chicago’s Museum Campus on March 16-17 from a foundry in Colorado. Chicago’s Field Museum is one of several museum stops on their way to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where they will be installed at the museum’s entrance on the National Mall as part of a new exhibition, “Bison: Standing Strong.”
The project and exhibition are part of the Smithsonian’s “Our Shared Future: 250,” an initiative to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary. “Bison: Standing Strong” will tell the story of the animals that have been part of the American landscape for 100,000 years and were an essential part of Indigenous cultures. The sculptures, created by artist Gary Staab and scaled about 25% larger than an actual bison, will remain on permanent display on the National Mall.
Bison were once plentiful in Illinois but were hunted close to extinction in the 19th century. As recounted in the tour announcement on Wednesday, bison have since returned to Illinois’ prairie habitats, including the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in the Chicago Wilderness region. Additionally, a pair of bronze bison stands on permanent display in Humboldt Park, created for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition by Edward Kemeys (who also sculpted the lions outside the Art Institute).
Smithsonian experts accompanying the tour will be at the Field Museum to answer questions about bison conservation, the sculptures and the exhibition in Washington, and the Field will host a presentation by the National Museum of Natural History’s Laura Donnely Smith and Sarah Johnson from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 16.
dgeorge@chicagotribune.com
If you go
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 16 and 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. March 17 at the Field Museum, 1400 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive; www.fieldmuseum.org
