Issue Preview ~ Summer 2004
Leoti Artist Captures True Beauty In Art
By Janna Delissa
Samuel Butler, an English novelist, once said, "Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture, or anything else, is always a portrait of himself." The artwork of Charlie Norton certainly reflects his love of the outdoors (and animals in particular) as well as his interest in history.
Norton is perhaps best known for his bronze sculptures. Sculptures he has done include wildlife, historic and Western figures, portraits and life-size monuments. His most recent sculpture is a larger than twice life-size bronze monument, "Birthplace of the Legend-Buffalo Bill," located in Oakley and was dedicated May 22, 2004.
The Buffalo Bill monument took about three years to complete, and required Norton and his wife Pat (who is also an artist) to live away from home as they worked on different stages of the sculpture. The sheer size of the project presented unique obstacles. Stainless steel armature inside the sculpture supports the weight as well as makes it strong enough to withstand the high winds common on the plains of Kansas. Moving the monumental sculpture from Colorado to Oakley, Kansas presented its own set of problems as clearing high-line wires, overpasses and bridges were a challenge. The head of the horse alone filled a pick-up bed. Cranes had to be used to set the sculpture in place. Striking the perfect "balance" so that Buffalo Bill, his horse (Brigham) and the buffalo were in proper proportion were just a few of the problems that Norton worked through.
It is no coincidence that the artist chose Buffalo Bill to be the subject of this sculpture. Norton's passion for history was evident as he explained that as a young man, William Cody worked for the Kansas Pacific Railroad supplying fresh buffalo meat to the employees of the railroad who were laying track across Kansas. In the spring of 1868 the railroad sponsored a buffalo-hunting contest between Bill Comstock and Bill Cody both of whom had been nicknamed "Buffalo Bill." The contest was actually a publicity stunt to get new investors for the railroad, but when Bill Cody killed 69 buffalo during the hunt compared to Bill Comstock's 46, it resulted in Bill Cody being named the "true" Wild Buffalo Bill. This buffalo hunt took place in Logan County, and began west of Oakley.
Mr. Norton researches his subjects carefully to ensure that his work is authentic. He studied the mustang horses of the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona because they are very similar to the horses ridden in the buffalo hunt. He obtained a Springfield rifle that had been issued by the railroad to employees with the same date and markings as the gun W.F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) used. From his extended research, Norton knows that Buffalo Bill had likely worn civil war surplus clothing. Norton is also quite familiar with the anatomy of buffalo, since he has helped skin 119 buffalo during buffalo hunts.
Although Norton strives to make his work authentic, he did exercise some artistic discretion in the Buffalo Bill monument. Buffalo Bill was a young man when he was in Logan County, but his facial features changed significantly as he aged. Norton made the facial features on this sculpture closer to what people remember Buffalo Bill to look like when he gained fame traveling across the nation with the Wild West Show late in his life. A similar compromise was made in a painting Norton was commissioned to do for the US Forestry Service to commemorate their 100th Anniversary. The painting is of an early forest ranger on a horse in the mountains. From his research, Norton knew that the very first forest ranger was Bill Kreutzer, and that he was of German descent. However, the Forestry Service asked Norton to change the features of the ranger in the painting so that he was politically correct so that the ranger had characteristics of many ethnic groups. Thus the forest ranger in the picture has a dark mustache and appears to be somewhat Hispanic, rather than the fair-skinned German who actually was the first ranger.
When making big sculptures, Norton starts by making a smaller model, called a maquette. The maquette of the Buffalo Bill monument stands about four feet tall and fits right into the southwestern theme of the Norton's home as it currently sits in their living room. When applying to do a life-size sculpture to be placed in front of the Franklin County, Kansas courthouse, Norton took a 15-18" maquette of the sculpture he envisioned to show the selection committee. Norton attributes the selection of his "Buffalo Woman" for Franklin County to the research he did on the history of the county.
Although it was not necessary for Norton to use a buffalo as a model for the Buffalo Bill monument (because he is so familiar with a buffalo's anatomy), Norton typically does use real models. His wife and son were his models for the Spirit of the Prairie sculpture at the courthouse in Colby, Kansas. He recalls the time he wanted to sculpt a coyote. He called in a coyote, killed it, laid it out in the position he wanted it, waited for rigormortis to set in, and then stood the dead animal up. Someone driving by his home stopped and took a picture and wondered how he got a coyote to stand so still for him!
The Nortons are lifelong residents of western Kansas and live in Leoti. Included on their web page are pictures of many of Norton's sculptures. To see them, visit
www.bronzesculpturecnorton.com .