Bronze Reproduction of “The End of the Trail,” After James Earle Fraser (1876–1953)

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On offer is a museum-quality bronze replica of a work said to be one of 20th-century America’s most recognizable sculptures. … Read more On offer is a museum-quality bronze replica of a work said to be one of 20th-century America’s most recognizable sculptures. "The End of the Trail" depicts a weary Native American warrior slumped over an exhausted, emaciated horse at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Created by American sculptor James Earle Fraser (1876–1953), the work serves as a commentary on the devastating impact of Euro-American westward expansion and the forced removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands—just as the onerous campaign reached completion.
Remarkably, Fraser created the first model of this sculpture in 1894 in his late teens. Then a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he was inspired by his childhood experiences in the Dakota Territory. What stayed with him specifically was a trapper's comment that "the Indians will someday be pushed into the Pacific Ocean."
His figure of the Native American was based on Seneca Chief John Big Tree. Fraser subsequently produced a monumental plaster version for San Francisco’s 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It won a gold medal and gained massive national popularity.
Unlike the fate of many of the fair’s plaster statues intended only for temporary display, this one was rescued from abandonment in 1919 and placed in a Visalia, California park. By the 1960s, it had severely deteriorated. In 1968, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City acquired and restored the plaster original where it remains on permanent indoor display today. In exchange, the museum provided a bronze replica to the city of Visalia. Additionally, another life-size version in bronze now stands in Waupun, Wisconsin. Other casts are held by institutions like the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Minnesota born, Fraser spent much of his youth in South Dakota where his father worked for the railroad. He lived in a boxcar and learned traditional skills like making arrowheads from Sioux children. These were experiences that deeply influenced his lifelong fascination with Native American culture. He began carving limestone at a young age before starting his formal studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. He later studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian in Paris. Subsequently, Fraser assisted legendary sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in New York and Paris, becoming one of his most trusted protégés.
Fraser’s subsequent work includes the Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin statues at the U.S. Treasury Building, and major architectural sculptures for the Supreme Court and the National Archives. He married Laura Gardin Fraser, an accomplished sculptor in her own right who collaborated with him on projects like the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar. Fraser’s Buffalo Nickel featured a composite portrait of three Native American leaders on one side and an American bison, modeled after "Black Diamond" from the Central Park Zoo, on the reverse.
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