'Redman' Statue laid "to rest"

Thing of the past ...

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

One of the Whispering Giant series by artist Peter Wolf Toth, installed in 1979, was taken down recently. The elements had made its base unstable, so he was laid "to rest" in the same spot. This weekend, a local quarry donated stones around it and it is still visible from US Highway 34, just stargazing instead of facing down drivers, according to Tori Mask, 7/13/2023.

"Redman" is one of over 70 tree trunks -- scattered across the country -- that were carved by one man into big, skinny, Indian heads. Unveiled in 1979, the wood eventually rotted. Redman was taken down in December, 2022. He's still there, but now he lies flat, gazing at the sky, according to a recent Loveland area traveler in Roadside America.com.

The Trail of the Whispering Giants is an ongoing project, says fellow traveler, David Schumaker. He says he is on a quest to identify all the Whispering Giant statues and has documented 57 existing statues and identified 12 that are now missing or destroyed since Peter Wolf Toth began this project in 1972. Schumaker has documented his information on the WEB site Peter Wolf Toth which has the most current information on the Whispering Giants and messages from the artist himself.

That message from Peter Toth is as follows:

"St Stephan, King of Hungary: June 2008, I finished statue #73. This is a very important statue to me, as it is my first one on the European Continent. St Stephan was the first King of Hungary, around 1000 AD, and he introduced Christianity to the country. If not for him, there would be no Hungary today." It is located about 20 miles from Budapest, in the town of Delegyhaza. It is in a Park dedicated to King Stephan, adjacent to the Post Office."

At this time in my life, I have completed my tributes to the indigenous people of North America, specifically the Native Americans. It is now my calling to provide memorials to the indigenous people of the World. Presently I am engaged in creating replacement statues in various States as well as reconditioning others. However, the World will still remain in my plans for the future."

Toth used a hammer and a chisel as the basic tools to create the Whispering Giants, but on occasion will use a mallet and an axe, or rarely power tools. Before starting work on a Whispering Giant, Toth conferred with local Native American tribes and local lawmakers, according to various newspaper accounts around the country.  The sculpture that is created is a composite of all the physical characteristics, especially facial features, of the local tribe or tribes, as well as their stories and histories.  Toth dismisses the notion that the Whispering Giant sculptures are totem poles or represent Native American art, and has further stated that it would be inappropriate to carve totems because they were traditionally carved by Northwestern Indian tribes and had religious significance, where his carvings are intended as sculptures of Native American people, says various news accounts.

"I don't know a thing about carving totem poles, never made one nor expect to. My monument depicts an Indian, not copies of Indian art," Troth was quoted in Tribal Press, of Lincoln, Neb., in 1983.

The photo appearing above was taken by  photographer Carol Highsmith and resides in her Collection: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

• Wooden carving depicting an American Indian along U.S. 34, the route to Rocky Mountain National Park between Loveland and Estes Park in Larimer County, Colorado.
  

Photo Credit:

• Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer

Created / Published

• 2015-07-25.

Headings

• -  United States--Colorado--Larimer County
• -  America
• -  U.S. 34
• -  Wood carvings
• -  Indian statues

Headings

• Digital photographs--Color--2010-2020.

Genre

• Digital photographs--Color--2010-2020

Notes

• -  Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.
• -  The scene is so fetching to passersby that drivers have worn a makeshift turnoff in the grass along the highway next to the statue.
• -  Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
• -  Gift; Gates Frontiers Fund; 2015; (DLC/PP-2015:068).
• -  Forms part of: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.