Coal Miner (statue)

Coal Miner, John J. Szaton, 1966, front view

Year	1966 (1966)
Type	bronze statue
Dimensions	220 cm × 67 cm × 71 cm (85 in × 26.5 in × 28 in)
Location	Indianapolis, IN
	39°46′8.33″N 86°9′47.3″W / 39.7689806°N 86.163139°W / 39.7689806; -86.163139
Owner	State of Indiana

The Coal Miner, is a public artwork by American artist John J. Szaton (1907–1966), located on the West lawn of the Indiana Statehouse or Capitol building, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. This statue is a copy of a work by Szaton originally commissioned by the Illinois state government in 1963.^[1] The statue commemorates Indiana's hard working coal miners and those who lost their lives in the state's industrial history. It stands over 7 feet tall on a 3 foot tall granite base which is supported by a cement foundation 4-6 inches thick. The statue is cast bronze it was first sculpted in plaster and was later cast twice, once to create the Illinois statue which was dedicated in 1964 and later the Indiana statue which was dedicated in 1967, both were created at the Spampinato Art Workshop foundry in Chicago, Ill.

Description

The Coal Miner stands 85 x 26 1/2 x 28 in. facing West in the North West corner of the Indiana Statehouse lawn. He is dressed in bib overalls, boots, a belt, a long sleeve shirt and a miner's hat. He has a contrapposto stance with his proper left foot forward. He carries a miner's fire safety lamp or "bug light",^[2] in his proper left hand which is by his side. His proper right hand is raised, gripping the base of a miner's pick axe which sits on his proper right shoulder. The sleeve of his proper right arm is unbuttoned and hangs open on his forearm below where he is gripping the pick axe. The belt which hangs at his waist has three visible belt punches. He wears a MSA Comfo Cap Model P^[3] miner's hat with its battery pack clipped to the backside of his belt. The artist's signature, "John Szaton, Sc." appears on the proper left side of the base toward the front. Beside the signature toward the back of the proper left side of the base is a foundry mark which reads, "Cast by Spampinato Art Foundry Chicago, Ill. 1966".

The granite base is 35 7/8 x 35 1/2 x 36 in. On the front-facing side it has a bas-relief sculpture of a drag-line mining crane at work in a strip mine.^[4][5] On the rear-facing side it has a plaque which reads: Without coal the marvelous social and industrial progress which marks our civilization could not have been achieved. But the production of this vital commodity, so essential to the world's progress, has cost the lives of thousands of "coal miners" in Indiana. It is to the supreme sacrifice of these men that this memorial is dedicated.^[6] This granite block is supported by a cement foundation which is between 4 to 6 in. thick.

Historical information

The Coal Miner statue was originally commissioned in 1963 by the State of Illinois after 15 years of advocacy work by coal miner, artist and poet Vachel Davis(1898–1966). The legislature appropriated $15,000 for the construction and casting of this monument. Vachel Davis who was acquainted with John J. Szaton recommended he submit a sketch for the monument based on Davis' 1946 painting "American Coal Miner". The legislature accepted the initial sketch as well as an 18 in. model Szaton submitted before giving the endorsement for Szaton to create the full scale piece. Szaton created a full scale plaster sculpture in his Tinley Park studio before later casting the statue in bronze for the finished piece. The plaster sculpture is still able to be viewed in the Tinley Park Historical Society Museum.^[1] The sculpture was intended to commemorate the Illinois coal miners who were killed in pursuit of the state's coal industry. Michael F. Widman an official of the United Mine Workers of America was present at the October 16, 1964 dedication ceremony for the original sculpture in Springfield, at the Illinois statehouse. The United Mine Workers union commended the state of Illinois for being the first state to honor their coal miners with such a memorial. Widman was NOT the model for the piece but merely standing in for the president of the United Mine Workers, John L. Lewis, who was ill and unable to attend.^[7] The statue was so well received that the State of Indiana commissioned a copy of the sculpture, the 1965 General Assembly appropriated funds to create a copy to memorialize Hoosier coal miners who had been killed on the job. The Indiana statue was erected and dedicated in 1967.^[8] As with the Illinois sculpture it is a public artwork and it is owned by the state. The Coal Miner is administered by the State of Indiana, Department of Administration.^[4]

Artist

John J. Szaton was born in 1907 in Ludlow, Massachusetts. He apprenticed under well known Illinois sculpture Lorado Taft who invited Szaton to come to Chicago after meeting him on a lecture tour of various high schools and art schools in Massachusetts. Szaton studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the now defunct Chicago Academy of Fine Art while apprenticing under Taft.^[9] Szaton worked with other artists including his wife's aunt, Nellie Walker, who he helped create the Lincoln Trail Monument in Vincennes, IN. He created a War Memorial for Northwest Armory in Chicago in 1940 and 1947 he created "Indian Shooting the Stars" for Lane Tech High School to commemorate students that had died in World War II. Szaton and his family moved to Tinley Park (then a small rural suburb of Chicago) in 1947. Szaton would commute to Chicago to work during the week as a greeting card engraver, since the income from his art commissions was not enough to sustain his family. In 1948 he build a large garage studio behind the house, with a tall, vaulted ceiling to accommodate the height clearance of some of his larger sculptures. In 1963 Szaton was asked by artist Vachel Davis to reinterpret his iconic 1946 painting "American Coal Miner" into a permanent monument to coal miners. Szaton's sketch was accepted by the Illinois state legislature and he was asked to create a model of the work for further approval. He submitted an 18 in. version of his sculpture in late 1963 and the final statue was completed and dedicated on October 16, 1964.

John Szaton gained a great deal of acclaim for The Coal Miner, reproductions of small scale versions of the monument have been mass produced, over 200 have been given as gifts by the coal industry over the years. Szaton died in 1966 and was buried in Cedar Park cemetery.

Posthumously a plaque was added in 1981 to the Illinois statue citing Szaton as the artist. Szaton's wife donated the full scale plaster sculpture to the Tinley Park Historical Society in 1986.^[1]

Condition

This sculpture was assessed in November of as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database. The statue was considered well maintained at the time of this assessment.^[10] Photos taken of the sculpture in 2005 show ample presence of lime scale ^[11] which was later removed at an undetermined time, between late 2005 and October 2010, in a restoration procedure, as evidenced by its current appearance.

See also

• Workers' Memorial Sculpture

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Stanley, Charles (22 May 2002). "Backyard Sculptor's Legacy: Modest John Szaton of Tinley Park carved life-size art". Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL). http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-05-22/news/0205210184_1_mr-taft-art-institute-sculpture. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 
2. ^ Coal Industry. "Careers in Coal Mining". http://www.cicoal.org. Retrieved 30 November 2010. 
3. ^ horstauctions. "Fall 2010 tool sale". http://www.horstauction.com/Pix_catlgs_2010/2010_10_30_tool_sale/sale20101030_tool_listing.htm#88. Retrieved 30 November 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} The Smithsonian American Art Museum (1992). "Art Inventories Catalog". http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1B9142856FF46.18651&profile=ariall&uri=full=3100001~!321019~!2&ri=2&aspect=Browse&menu=search&source=~!siartinventories&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Szaton,+John,+1907-+,+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=2. Retrieved 24 November 2010. 
5. ^ CLAvalon (29 November 2010). "Coal Miner, detail front side relief". http://www.flickr.com/photos/clavalon/5221562284/in/photostream/. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
6. ^ CLAvalon (29 November 2010). "Coal Miner detail plaque rear side". http://www.flickr.com/photos/clavalon/5221519874/. Retrieved 3 December 2010. 
7. ^ Volkmann, Carl; Roberta Volkmann (2008). Images of America: Springfield's Sculptures, Monuments and Plaques. Chicago, IL: Arcadia. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-7385-5165-4. http://books.google.com/?id=ux0VJJ8MAC4C&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=%22Michael+F.+Widman%22+united+mine+workers#v=onepage&q=%22Michael%20F.%20Widman%22%20united%20mine%20workers&f=false. Retrieved 1 December 2010. 
8. ^ Greiff, Glory-June (2005). Remembrance faith and fancy: outdoor sculpture in Indiana. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press. p. 165. 
9. ^ "John J. Szaton". AskArt.com. http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/search/ArtistKeywords.aspx?artist=10052979. Retrieved November 26, 2010. 
10. ^ Smithsonian American Art Museum (November 1992). "Coal Miner Sculpture". http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=R291R37F78358.19360&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!321019~!2&ri=2&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Szaton%2C+John%2C+1907-+%2C+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=2#focus. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 
11. ^ Namey McNamerson (March 26, 2005). "Coal Miners Memorial". http://www.flickr.com/photos/shushmuckle/3198299787/. Retrieved 4 December 2010. 

External links

• SOS:Save Outdoor Sculpture-Initiative assessing and preserving outdoor sculpture nationwide.
• View more photos of this and other public art at the Indiana Statehouse on Flickr
• Indiana Statehouse Tour Office
• National Guard Reliefs
• Springfield Coal Miner