IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
Artist
Jo Davidson, 30 Mar 1883 - 2 Jan 1952
Sitter
Will Rogers, 4 Nov 1879 - 15 Aug 1935
Date
1938 (cast 1951 or after)
Type
Sculpture
Medium
Bronze; chocolate brown patina
Dimensions
With Base (Base part of object): 47.6 x 59.7 x 39.1cm (18 3/4 x 23 1/2 x 15 3/8")
Topic
Will Rogers: Male
Will Rogers: Performing Arts\Performer\Actor\Stage actor
Will Rogers: Society and Social Change\Philanthropist
Will Rogers: Journalism and Media\Journalist\Columnist
Will Rogers: Performing Arts\Performer\Actor\Movie actor
Will Rogers: Performing Arts\Performer\Comedian
Will Rogers: Natural Resource Occupations\Agriculturist\Cowboy
Will Rogers: Journalism and Media\Journalist\Humorist
Will Rogers: Performing Arts\Performer\Showman
Will Rogers: Journalism and Media\Broadcast journalist\Commentator
Will Rogers: Politics and Government\Public official\Mayor\Beverly Hills, CA
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
NPG.67.52
Exhibition Label
Born Oologah, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma)
Will Rogers, who was part Cherokee, once told a Boston audience, “My ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower—they met the boat.” He spent his youth in traveling circuses as a rope artist and roughrider, later adding jokes to his lariat tricks. Eventually he wound up on the vaudeville circuit, and by 1912 on Broadway, where he became a star of the Ziegfeld Follies. He also embarked on a motion picture and then a radio career that would establish him as America’s homespun philosopher. When he died in an airplane crash in 1935, Rogers was arguably the nation’s best-loved personality.
Provenance
(M. Knoedler & Co., Inc.), New York; purchased NPG 1967