Riding into the Sunset
| Riding into the Sunset | |
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Casting in Claremore, Oklahoma
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| Artist | Electra Waggoner Biggs |
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Bronze sculpture |
| Dimensions | 2.87 m × 0.91 m × 1.78 m (9 ft 5 in × 3 ft × 5 ft 10 in) |
| Location | Will Rogers Memorial Center, Fort Worth, Texas (original casting) |
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Riding into the Sunset
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Casting on the campus of Texas Tech University
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| Location | Lubbock, Texas |
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| Built | 1950 |
| Sculptor | Electra Waggoner Biggs |
| Part of | Texas Technological College Historic District (#96000523) |
| Added to NRHP | 1996 |
Riding into the Sunset is a bronze sculpture by Electra Waggoner Biggs, depicting Will Rogers on his horse, Soapsuds. There are four castings, located in Fort Worth, Texas, Claremore, Oklahoma, Lubbock, Texas, and Dallas, Texas.
The work was commissioned in 1937, by Amon G. Carter, a friend of Rogers, following Rogers death in 1935. Biggs initially used Soapsuds as her model but was not satisfied with her animal anatomy. While living in New York City, she hired a police horse and model, as well as a veterinarian to check her horse anatomy, to aid in the work's completion.
The original casting was installed at Amon Carter Square, in front of the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas in 1942. Carter built the center as an indoor arena to be used for rodeos, cattle and horse shows, and other events.
Oklahoma's Will Rogers Memorial features the Will Rogers Museum, and a garden containing the entertainer's tomb. The casting of Riding into the Sunset was initially placed near the front entrance to the museum, but was later moved to beside the tomb, overlooking the city of Claremore.
The Amon G. Carter Foundation donated the casting of Riding into the Sunset to Texas Tech University in 1950. Carter was the first chairman of the university's board of regents when it was founded in 1923. The sculpture is located in what is now called Amon G. Carter Plaza at the university's main entrance. While visiting Lubbock in 1926, Rogers donated $200 to the Goin' Band from Raiderland to aid with travel expenses for the marching band to accompany the football team for a game against the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth. At the sculpture's dedication on February 16, 1950, Carter was quoted as saying "Will Rogers felt at home in the Lubbock area. His statue is a befitting monument to your students and faculty." In 1996, Riding into the Sunset was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing object to the Texas Technological College Historic District.
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