Descent of Civilization (Bison Memorial) by Marc Swanson (2010) bronze and limestone

Marc Swanson's bronze sculpture, Descent of Civilization (Bison Memorial), pays tribute to the American buffalo or bison of the American West. Created in 2010, the piece measures 120 x 107 x 36" and is part of the Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. The museum's purchase of the sculpture was made possible by DST Systems, Inc. Reminiscent of a skeleton one might find at a natural history museum, the Bison bones may be an unexpected discovery when walking in Downtown KC.

The sculpture's limestone pedestal holds an inscription that provides insight into the artist's intent. It states, "This sculpture serves as a memorial to the great heros of plains buffalo- A reminder of what was compromised to the development of our great nation and is now lost from the landscape. Marc Swanson, Artist, 2010.

Marc Swanson is an American artist who was born in 1969 in New Britain, Connecticut, and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Swanson received his MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, and also studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine. Swanson’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum, at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, and the Saint Louis Art Museum, and in 2011 he also had a solo show at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Descent of Civilization, Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=88200, accessed 9/6/22

Marc Swanson Biography, Richard Gray Gallery, https://www.richardgraygallery.com/artists/marc-swanson accessed 9/6/22