Hiawatha
1871–72, carved 1874
Medium
Marble
Dimensions
Figure: 60 x 34 1/2 x 37 1/4 in. (152.4 x 87.6 x 94.6 cm) Base (Granite base): 23 in. Other (Plinth with inscription): 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm)
Classification
Sculpture
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Diane, Daniel, and Mathew Wolf, in memory of Catherine Hoover Voorsanger, 2001
Accession Number
2001.641
Tags
Art Historical Context
Augustus Saint-Gaudens *Hiawatha* (1871–72, 1874) is an early masterpiece from one of America's foremost sculptors. Crafted in luminous white marble, this life-sized figure—standing 60 inches tall on its granite base and inscribed plinth—captures a contemplative Native American warrior, drawing inspiration from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem *The Song ofiawatha*. At just 24 years old when he modeled it, Saint-Gaud showcased his precocious talent, honed during studies in Paris at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts. The sculpture embodies the Romantic idealization of Indigenous l...
About the Artist
Augustus Saint-Gaudens · 1848–1907
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) was an Irish-born American sculptor widely regarded as the greatest American sculptor of the nineteenth century. Born in Dublin to a French father and Irish mother, he was brought to New York City as an infant. He trained as a cameo cutter, studied at the Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design, and then traveled to Paris, where he studied at the École de...