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Requires Photography
Tragedy of Winter Quarters
Avard Fairbanks (American, 1897–1987)
1934
Object Place: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Medium/Technique
Bronze, light brown patina, lost wax cast
Dimensions
54.6 x 29.2 x 28.3 cm (21 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 11 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Jonathan and Louisa Fairbanks
Accession Number1978.676
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsSculpture
DescriptionThe subject is the suffering of Mormon pioneers encamped in Florence, Nebraska in the winter of 1846. The group depicts a man and a woman huddled under a cloak, looking down into a freshly-dug grave where their child has just been buried. This is a smaller-scale version of a larger monument erected at Florence, Nebraska in 1936 at the site of the Mormon encampment.
Signed
"Avard Fairbanks / 1934" on base.
ProvenanceCollection of Jonathan and Louisa Fairbanks by 1978; to the MFA, 1978.
CopyrightReproduced with permission.