An Incorrigible History of Alberta
Calgary Stampede's Western Art Winners
The West That Was
Focusing on the West
A Slice of Reality
Lithograph in Western Canadian History
Shadow Stories
Five Hundred
Generations
D.C. Lund
Calgary's Art Walk
Stew Cameron
Dale Auger
Judie Popplewell
K. Neil Swanson
Jerry Doell
Paul Van Ginkel
Diana Stupniski
Janice Blackie Goodine
Gena La Coste
Wendy Risdale
Ash Cooper

The West That Was

Bob Scriver’s Frontier in Bronze

By Terri Mason

Lunging Lobo Wolves aren’t shy when they’re hungry.” Chuck Hayward, Trail Guide and Outfitter

Photos by Mike Treloar

It was the days of hair chaps, high-heeled boots and spurs that jingled when they drug on the ground. All my friends were either cowboys or Indians. I didn’t know any other kind of people,” the late Bob Scriver once said, describing his youth. His authority imbued his art with an authenticity that earned him a reputation as one of the finest sculptors in the Western genre, creating a legacy that continues to ring and ricochet through the imagination.

An Honest Try You compete against yourself. If you try to compete against the others, you start thinking about somebody else. You need to think about yourself, the bull and the seconds.” Lawrence Crawler, Calf Roper and Former Bull Rider

Robert MacFie Scriver was born August 15, 1914, on Montana’s Blackfeet Indian Reservation where he soon began to develop two lifelong passions – music and art. After years of formal music studies, Scriver worked as a music supervisor and band director in the Montana public school system. The Canadian connection came during the Second World War. Scriver played in the 550th Army Air Force’s band where, as first-chair cornet in the Alaskan Division, he was stationed in Edmonton, Alberta.

By 1950, however, Scriver’s growing fascination with taxidermy had replaced his interest in teaching music and he began his career as a professional taxidermist. Reviving his childhood fascination with sculpture, he applied his talents to constructing anatomical forms for mounting hides. By the late 1950s, as an extension of his taxidermy business, Scriver opened his Museum of Montana Wildlife, featuring mounted specimens, dioramas and an amazing array of artifacts.

LuElk Royale Mountain Majesty Elk can be aggressive when they’re calving but only when they’re calving… You keep away from them because you don’t want to spook them away from their calves anyway.” Harvey Dersch, Rancher

In 1956, the Montana Historical Society sponsored a competition for a statue of Charles M. Russell for National Statuary Hall in the United States capital. Scriver lost the competition but realized that he had found his true calling, from then on devoting his considerable skills to becoming a master sculptor.

What he lacked in formal schooling in art he made up for in careful observation and implementing advice offered by his many artist friends. Mounting his first major exhibition to critical acclaim in 1961 at his studio in Browning, Scriver’s talent drew national recognition. He soon opened his own bronze foundry and created a series of sculptures featuring, among others, the men and women of rodeo and the culture and traditions of the Blackfeet people.

A Hard Way To Get Off I was riding that white horse and I was chasing a thoroughbred that my dad gave me. The white horse stepped into a hole and rolled right on top of me. The next thing I knew I couldn’t move my arm. It was broke.” Louis Scoop, Kainai Educator

Until his death in January 1999, Scriver devoted his life to creating a unique artistic vision of the West that was.

Faced with the daunting task of preserving his legacy, in 2000, Lorraine Scriver presented her late husband’s massive collection to the Montana Historical Society.

To ensure the long-term preservation of this remarkable collection, the Montana Historical Society entered into a unique cooperative agreement that offers western museum visitors expanded opportunities to enjoy Scriver’s work on both sides of the Medicine Line. While the Society retains ownership of the materials, the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, Alberta, (with which Scriver had a long-standing relationship) and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in Missoula, Montana, will care for and exhibit portions of the collection.

Superintendent Walsh Bids Farewell to Sitting Bull The war between the U.S. and (Sitting) Bull was a strange one. A nation against one man. On the U.S. side there were numbers; on Bull’s side there was principle. The one man was murdered by the nation to destroy the principle he advocated – that no man against his will should be forced to be a beggar.” Sup’t James Walsh

The Royal Alberta Museum exhibition, The Frontier in Bronze: Sculptures by Bob Scriver runs from June 10 to November 19, 2006.