Henry Merwin Shrady (1871 - 1922)
Elk Buffalo, 1900
bronze
22.5 x 27 x 12 inches
103 pounds
Inscribed On Base: HM Shrady Copyright 1900 T B Starr

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Dallas, Texas

Elk Buffalo by Henry Merwin Shrady is perhaps the most remarkable sculpture to capture the Old West in terms of its naturalism and quality of casting. The bronze exemplifies the artist’s command of animal anatomy, acquired in his biological studies at Columbia University and through his observations of animals at the Bronx Zoo. According to Roman Bronze Works, Inc. President and founder, Riccardo Bertelli, Elk Buffalo “is very rare as I think we only cast in bronze five or six copies of it.” Artist Frederic Remington was so impressed by Shrady’s Elk Buffalo, that he purchased an example in 1908, calling it “bye (sic) and large the best buffalo I ever saw modeled and it has become one of the things that I had to own.”

The sculpture appears to be in excellent condition. The casting is very detailed and sharp with no apparent degradation in the metal. The surface of the sculpture was restored in 2021 with a dark, period correct liver of sulfur patina.