Descent of Civilization - Kansas City, Missouri
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member iconions
N 39° 06.231 W 094° 35.236
15S E 362753 N 4329500
This sculpted American Bison skeleton is located on the Southwest corner of 9th and Broadway in Kansas City, Mo.
Waymark Code: WMK5BB
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 02/15/2014
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Outspoken1
Views: 4

Artist: Swanson, Marc, 1969- , sculptor.

Title: Descent of Civilization, (sculpture).

Other Titles: Bison Memorial, (sculpture).

Dates: Installed Oct. 11, 2010. Dedicated Oct. 13, 2010.

Medium: Sculpture: bronze; Base: limestone.

Dimensions: Sculpture: 5 x 9 x 3 ft. (800 lbs.); Base: 5 x 8 x 3 ft.

Subject: Animal -- Cattle
Animal -- Other -- Skeleton

Object Type: Outdoor Sculpture -- Missouri -- Kansas City

Owner: Owned by Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 4420 Warwick Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri 64111
Located West 9th Street & Broadway Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri

References: Kansas City Adopt A Monument, 2014.

Illustration: Image on file.

Note: 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.

Repository: Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

Control Number: IAS 74870134

- Smithsonian Outdoor Sculpture Database



DESCENT OF CIVILIZATION


This sculpture serves as a memorial to the great herds of Plains buffalo
A reminder of what was compromised in the development of
our great nation and is now lost from the landscape.


- Marc Swanson. Artist, 2010

- Marker Text



Kansas City, MO – Brooklyn-based artist Marc Swanson has been described as a social provocateur and alchemist.

Many of Swanson's works combine animal forms with light from mirrors or cut glass. His sculpture, a towering bronze skeleton called "Descent of Civilization (Bison Memorial)" was inspired by a photograph.

"(The photograph is) from the late 1800s," says Swanson. "It's a man standing on top of a pile of buffalo skulls."

Swanson grew up in rural New Hampshire, and says there's a duality to his work.

"'Descent of Civilization (Bison Memorial)' is very strong and majestic and bronze and bold," says Swanson. "But also it's a skeleton, and has a different read to it."

This marks the third sculpture placed in downtown Kansas City, through a Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and DST Systems, Inc. partnership.

- KCUR.org website

Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Descent of Civilization

Figure Type: Animal

Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Marc Swanson

Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 2010

Materials used: metal and granite

Location: 9th and Broadway in front of the Poindexter Building

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