Pioneer Man

Life-sized bronze sculpture by Rich Muno erected to commemorate the perseverance of Oklahoma homesteaders. Dedicated as part of local US Bicentennial celebration in 1976.

Life-sized statue of a man dressed in wide-brimmed hat, work shirt and trousers, suspenders, and boots. He holds a pick-axe in his proper right hand. On his left stands a rifle. The statue was installed on a four-foot-tall base engraved "PIONEER MAN / Rich Muno / Sculptor / July 4, 1976." It was dedicated as part of US Bicentennial celebrations. It was re-dedicated in 2017.

Sculptor Rich Muno (1939-2015) was born in Arapaho, Oklahoma. He developed a love of wood carving growing up on an Oklahoma farm. As an adult he worked as a curator and director at western-themed Oklahoma art museums: at the Thomas Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa for 5 years, followed by 20 years at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City. Muno left then left the museum world to devote himself to sculpting and wood carving.

Muno's portrayal of a single male settler is unusual for its time. Heroic sculptures of solo male pioneers were popular in the first two decades of the twentieth century. But beginning in the 1920s, western monuments tended to focus on frontier women, such as the well-known Pioneer Woman monument in Ponca City, Oklahoma. After World War II, pioneer monuments tended to depict young married couples or nuclear families. In 1977 the former territorial capital of Guthrie dedicated a monument commemorating Oklahoma statehood. It depicts a similarly attired male cowboy exchanging marriage vows with a young Indigenous woman, and was intended to represent the marriage of Indian Territory with white settlement.

Prescott, Cynthia Culver. Pioneer Mother Monuments: Constructing Cultural Memory. Norman, Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma, 2019.

Rich Muno, AskArt. Accessed February 9th, 2024. https://www.askart.com/artist/Rich_Muno/11275293/Rich_Muno.aspx.

Pioneer Man - Clinton, OK, Waymarking. Accessed February 9th, 2024. https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm10BGK_Pioneer_Man_Clinton_OK.