The Briscoe Museum of Western Art has as its logo an American Bison inscribed within a circle. It clearly invokes the "Buffalo/Indian Head" nickel, one of the most iconic of U.S. coins of the 20th century. The coin was minted between 1913 and 1938. It was also one of the most problematic. There was a challenge to the design submitted by James Earle Frazer in 1912 by the Hobbs company, since they feared that their detection machines couldn't distinguish between the authentic nickel and slugs, which delayed its release by a year. Problems with its indistinct striking caused them to wear out quickly, no matter what modifications were made to their design over the years, do new dies had to be made more often than usual..
On the other hand, the nickels proved popular. Frazer already had a sound reputation as a sculptor and is probably best remembered for his highly acclaimed work End of the Trail. At the time of the coin's release, there was speculation as to which Native American leader and
which particular bison were Frazer's models: the head of the chief proved to be a composite, and the bison model apparently came from the Central Park Zoo in New York City. They continued to be in circulation for at least two decades after the Mint switched to the Jefferson
design in 1938
As an architectural motif, they were popular during the 1920's and 1930's, the period of
the art deco style in many civic-minded buildings all over the United States, including two in San Antonio. The earlier one is the Frost Bank building designed in 1922 by the Sanguinett and
Staats firm, located on Main Plaza next to San Fernando Cathedral. This building now houses the San Antonio City Council Chambers and has medallions of the nickel's two faces both on three sides of its facade, and inside, on the chamber's mezzanine. The other is on the interior frieze right below the coffered ceiling of the 1930 San Antonio Public Library Building's lobby designed by Herbert S. Green, now the Briscoe Museum of Western Art.
Both the coffering and the frieze below it had been obscured, blackened by cigar smoke and pure neglect, and in the time that the building served as the Hertzberg Circus Museum between 1968 and 2001, it seems nobody looked upwards, the room being filled by circus paraphenalia. When the structure was renovated more than a decade later in preparation for its transformation into the Briscoe Museum, the rich, but battered original ceiling was revealed. Lake Flato Architects designed the new adjacent Guenther Pavilion, and Restoration Associates lovingly restored the original library building, including the art deco light fixtures, sumptuous coffered ceiling of gilded cast plaster, and its buffalo nickel frieze of the same material but in silver--a serendipitous find for a Western themed museum!
Now re-gilded with silver mica pigment, the alternating nickel faces with decorative framing (and some decorated fire spigots as well as plain disks punctuating them) shine again and can be seen in closeup on the Mezzanine level. The Native American profile head and the bison, its curving posture gracefully fitting its circular shape, and even their smooth surfaces, suggesting some wear as found on most of the circulating nickels help tie the structure and its new function together. Their silvery coloring contrasts with the gold of the pilaster capitals below them and the coffering above. There are no issue dates or inscriptions as found on the real coins, or the subtle variations the real coin suffered over the years of its issue, just the two emblematic images.
The collection of the Briscoe offers numerous depictions of bison, including the Hulking Bull Bison, by Ken Ullman located on the Presa Street side of the Museum. But what makes the buffalo nickel theme even more important for the Briscoe is the presence in their collection of two works, one in a suite of prints, the other a pair of sculptures that invoke the same coin.
The prints are two serigraphs by Andy Warhol from the series Cowboys and Indians, published in 1986, a year before the artist's death. The full portfolio in an edition of 250 consisting of ten images of Western heroes taken from existing photographs selected by Warhol and also several Native American artifacts that he photographed at the Museum of the American when it was still located in New York, plus the "Indian Head" side of the Buffalo Nickel. The bison face of the nickel was included in a set of four additional proofs printed in a more limited edition of 46 in various colors. The Briscoe Museum has both sets.
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The serigraph or silk screen process produces multiple compositions of flat color, though color shade hatching can be achieved by the use of various screens. Because it is a multiple process, the color of individual prints of each composition can be varied.
The two faces of Warhol's nickels are very limited in color, in contrast to the pop-art bright hues of other prints in the series (though in some of the other trial proofs, he experimented with bright colors). The Briscoe's "Indian Head" uses two shades of gray, with black and white outlines and accents. The model must have a coin of the first year of issue, for it bears a date of "1913." Warhol also reproduces the word "Liberty" found on the coin. He has taken a few liberties with his design, the "3" being rounded rather than the flat-topped one on the coin, and the figure's features are flatter, with the eye more defined. Darker accents are in some of the feathers, the chief's collar, and behind part of the "Liberty" inscription, while white accents other feathers and the outlines of the profile and hair; the hair itself is a slightly darker gray than the skin. White and black lines and areas suggest slight wear.
The bison is similarly treated, though here the animal is darker gray than the ground it stands on, and the background is largely an off-white, as if the coin was seen in a raking light. The mottled ground and the black behind the upper text of "United States of America" and "E Pluribus Unum" also suggests wear, while white lines and some black smudges give the animal a slight sense of depth. The "Five Cents" below its feet are more irregular than that of the coin.
Taken all together, the two prints achieve both the characteristically surface-oriented style of all of Warhol's works and capabilities of the medium, and the iconic logo-quality of a coin. Given his inclination to often print multiples within the same compositions, such has his well-known "Campbell's Soup" prints, Warhol could have very well done a frieze of nickels himself.
The last nickel interpretation in the Briscoe couldn't be any more different from Warhol's, except that the fact that it was made by its artist in a multiple edition, in this case seventeen to twenty-one at a time. These are the Indian Head and Buffalo sculptures in cast metal by Greg Woodard. There are two editions of each, one in steel and another, subsequent one in bronze.
Though cast in multiples, Woodard applies patina to each piece individually, so that each is subtly different. These images are fully and sometimes jaggedly three dimensional. It's as if the artist managed to inflate both Native American and Bison not only to their full volumes, but he did it so powerfully that he burst through and shattered their circular frames and their inscriptions too. The bison is fully visible from both sides since the circle is blown out, and its rough coat made to appear even rougher by its varied patina. Most of the inscription "United States of America" can be seen at its tattered top, while the "Five Cents" at the bottom is intact. But Woodward has gone further, by giving us a view of the non-existent but hypothetical other side, he has included the word "Liberty" here--actually to be seen on Chief side of the real coin. On this side, he has also provided some dusty ground beneath the bison's feet--perhaps a reference to the rough ground seen in the original 1913 nickel, which disappeared in later dies of the coin. In some states of the casting, the bison's head projects beyond the nickel's circular shape.
The cast of the Native American seems to have exploded its frame even more, so the upper circle is partially broken off. Most of the head is placed in front of the broken circle; again, it is completely three dimensional. "LIB," a fragment of the word "Liberty" is stuck to the chief's forehead, while part of the inscription "United States" from the bison side is seen on the broken circular section beneath his neck, while the date "1913 is to the left of that. As in the case of the Warhol, the chief's hair is darker than his face, but here it is much darker. Like Woodard's Bison, the surfaces are craggier, even to the point of a gouge out of the chief's cheek: this is a sculpture, after all, not the person himself.
Woodard has done other deconstructed coins; the Indian Penny, with this chief's war bonnet projecting far above the round coin boundary, and the Lincoln Penny, where the President appears in front of the coin, here reduced to a crescent moon. The two sides of the Buffalo Nickel and the Indian Nickel are the only ones at least so far inspired by both faces of the coin.
No viewer can have trouble identifying the source for all the three examples in the museum discussed here, even though by the present date, few if any buffalo nickels remain in circulation.Given the western art mission of the museum, nothing could be more appropriate, tying works of art with a utilitarian United States currency. It is also a really appropriate choice as the Briscoe's advertising logo!
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Wikipedia's article on the Buffalo Nickel is a reliable source for the coin's history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_nickel
For the Nickels on the City Council Building, see: http://txstartrail.com/OldFrostBankMunicipalPlazaBuilding1922.php
An excellent discussion of Warhol's Buffalo Nickels and the entire print set is available is the thesis by Seth Hopkins, director of the Booth Museum, available on the Volgistics site for Briscoe docents. An additional discussion of Hopkins and his interest in Warhol can be found at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chaddscott/2019/09/24/booth-western-art-museum-sheds-new-light-on-andy-warhol-with-exhibit-warhol-and-the-west/#1276b08c4609
Information on Greg Woodard is available through the website of his principal gallery, Altamira Fine Arts: https://www.altamiraart.com/artists/5-greg-woodard/biography/, and Woodard's works: https://www.altamiraart.com/artists/5-greg-woodard/works/
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