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According to Thomas Nelson
Hubbard, he was given a set of Nakoma and Nakomis
terra-cotta statues by his father, Willis W. Hubbard.
Willis, an architect in the Chicago area, told him that he
received the statues as a gift from the Otis Elevator
Company.
Born in February 1931, Thomas graduated
from Yale in 1953. After serving in the Army, he worked for
Rand McNally & Company for nine years. He then formed his
own company, Hubbard Scientific, the largest manufacturer of
raised relief maps in the United States. After selling the
company in 1973, he formed Crystal Productions, producing
and publishing educational art and science resource
materials. He was a talented watercolor artist, specializing
in landscape, fly fishing and wildlife scenes.
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of
the original design, Thomas Hubbard contacted the Frank
Lloyd Wright Foundation and was granted a license to produce
bronze sculptures in December 1973. Molds were created from
the original terra-cotta |
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sculptures created in 1929-30.
The first bronze sets were produced by the Shidoni Foundry
in Tesuque, New Mexico. The original list price was $1,650.
The license specified that upon the production of 500 bronze
sets, the molds would be destroyed.
Hubbard and The Frank Lloyd Wright
Foundation also published the 12 page booklet "Indian Memorials".
It included a short biography of Wright, examples of
Wright’s Dana House, Midway Gardens and Imperial Hotel
sculptures, Wright’s original drawings of the Nakoma and
Nakomis, and photographs of the two new bronze sculptures.
Approximately 200 sets have been produced,
and sets are still available from the Zaplin/Lampert
Gallery, Sante Fe, New Mexico.
Although Thomas was involved in a hang
gliding accident in 1975 that left him a paraplegic, it did
not dampen his enthusiasm for life. He passed away in March
2011, at the age of nearly 80. |
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Wright's original
drawing of the Indian Chief Nakomis. On Wright's
original drawing of the female squaw, the name
Nakomis is clearly written twice, while on the
drawing of the male chief there is no writing at
all. This lead to the misconception that Nakoma
was the Indian chief. Published in "Indian
Memorials", Hubbard, 1974, page 4. Courtesy of
the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. |
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Hubbard Bronze
sculptures, first produced in 1974. Nakomis
(left) 17 1/2" high. Nakoma (right) 12"
high. Courtesy of the Zaplin/Lampert Gallery. |
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Cover of the "Indian Memorials",
published by Hubbard Associates and the Frank
Lloyd Wright Foundation. It included a
short biography on Wright, examples of Wright's
Dana House, Midway Gardens and Imperial Hotel
sculptures, Wright's original drawings of the
Nakoma and Nakomis, and photographs of the two
new bronze sculptures. |
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