Buffalo

BUFFALO, copyright ã 1976, Hermann Gurfinkel All rights reserved.

When Hermann emigrated to America with his family in 1938, they settled in New York City. After a year in New York, his father announced he had a position in the Catskills and how beautiful life would be. But 22 yr. old Hermann wanted to paint Indians and set out for Arizona. He ran out of money in Detroit and spent the rest of his eighty three years in the southern great lakes.

Hermann never made it out west and enjoyed an exciting career that took him from Chicago to Detroit and finally to Valparaiso, where he lives and works today. One day an acquaintance came out to Hermann's farm and studio and told the artist of real live buffaloes in a corral just over the state line in Illinois. Hermann had read extensively about the Indians and was captivated with their culture and the relationship they had with the buffalo. He also learned how the civilized easterner decimated the herds, upsetting the natural balance and pronouncing doom for the Indian and buffalo alike.

Hermann drove his old station wagon to the corral and the farmer gave him permission to sketch the animals but not without a warning. The brutes had been known to charge through the chain link fence when they were spooked, running through the metal mesh like water through a sieve.

Hermann tested the territory, moving up close enough to get a rise out of the herd and then backing off to a safe distance. He carefully negotiated his moves a few times, closing in and backing off, until he had gained their confidence and was able to make four, five, ten sketches.

The bronze figure stands approximately 24 inches high and weighs over fifty pounds. There is a limited edition of 50 copies.