Located near the northeast corner of the Montana Historical Museum & Society Building, this 24 foot tall bronze statue depicting a professional saddle bronc rider was the work Bob Scriver (1919-1999), an artist from Browning, Montana. A Blackfoot First Nations artist, Scriver was known for his bronze depictions of rodeo cowboys, traditional Blackfeet subjects and Montana wildlife.
Scriver completed this piece in 1982 for the
Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, but, for reasons unknown, it was never acquired by that organization. It was then exhibited in front of Scriver’s Browning Museum until 2000, when it was donated to the Montana Historical Society by Lorraine Scriver, the artist’s widow, along with Scriver’s entire collection (over 3,000 pieces) of bronzes, Montana wildlife specimens and historic artifacts.
A 16” x 16” dedication plaque is embedded in the stone retaining wall located below the sculpture.
A Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculpture, the only description offered there is
A professional rodeo cowboy atop a bucking bronc. The Smithsonian's page for this sculture indicates that it is owned by the Cowboy Artists of America Museum, Kerrville, Texas. That may or may not be the case, but the accompanying dedication plaque states that it was a gift by Bob's wife Lorraine to the Montana Historical Society. It's likely that this is the original and several known others are copies.