Henry Wilson Storey's History of Cambria County, V.II, p.452

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History of Cambria County, V.2

452 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

that he might take up the study of sculpture in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. The conditions of admission there are an introduction by a French artist of good standing, and a drawing from life executed in twelve hours, which indicates decided artistic talent. In 1902 he returned to New York City and opened his studio at 251 West 51st street.
    Mr. Boyle achieved distinction as a sculptor many years ago, and two of his statues – “Francis Bacon” and “Plato” – are in the Congressional Library at Washington, but it is his portrayal of the primitive and savage life, especially of the North American Indian, which has made him a pioneer in the study of the red men of the forest and which has had a marked effect upon the development of American art. His first group, “The Alarm,” which now stands in Lincoln Park, Chicago, was intended to commemorate the Ottawa tribe of Indians.
    The only American work admitted to the Paris Salon in 1886 was Mr. Boyle's “Stone Age in North America,” which at that time was praised by the French for its “wild energy,” its “power,” its “beauty” and “character and calm courage.” It is now placed in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. It represents an Indian woman standing ready to defend herself and her two children, one of whom she holds in her left arm, while the other crouches by her side. In her right hand she grasps a stone hatchet, the implement with which she has just killed a bear cub stretched at her feet.
    In his first conception of the work Mr. Boyle had sketched this Indian woman defending her children from a powerful eagle, which lay upon its back, clawing the air and apparently screeching defiantly, but when his friends viewed it, the beautiful lines of the great outspread wings did not overbalance the fact that it was the national bird of freedom which was being treated so ignominiously, and the sculptor was entreated to substitute some other creature.
    An eminent authority on the Park Commission states that the “'Stone Age' is among the most masterly works which have been added to the decorations of the Park, and Mr. Boyle is undoubtedly the first sculptor who has adequately presented the Indian's case in American art.”
    Some of the decorations of the Transportation building at the Columbian Exposition were the work of Mr. Boyle, and at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo he exhibited “The Savage Age,” a group of historical value.

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452	HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
that he might take up the study of sculpture in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. The conditions of admission there are an introduction by a French artist of good standing, and a drawing from life executed in twelve hours, which indicates decided artistic talent. In 1902 he returned to New York City and opened his studio at 251 West 51st street. Mr. Boyle achieved distinction as a sculptor many years ago, and two of his statues – “Francis Bacon” and “Plato” – are in the Congressional Library at Washington, but it is his portrayal of the primitive and savage life, especially of the North American Indian, which has made him a pioneer in the study of the red men of the forest and which has had a marked effect upon the development of American art. His first group, “The Alarm,” which now stands in Lincoln Park, Chicago, was intended to commemorate the Ottawa tribe of Indians. The only American work admitted to the Paris Salon in 1886 was Mr. Boyle's “Stone Age in North America,” which at that time was praised by the French for its “wild energy,” its “power,” its “beauty” and “character and calm courage.” It is now placed in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. It represents an Indian woman standing ready to defend herself and her two children, one of whom she holds in her left arm, while the other crouches by her side. In her right hand she grasps a stone hatchet, the implement with which she has just killed a bear cub stretched at her feet. In his first conception of the work Mr. Boyle had sketched this Indian woman defending her children from a powerful eagle, which lay upon its back, clawing the air and apparently screeching defiantly, but when his friends viewed it, the beautiful lines of the great outspread wings did not overbalance the fact that it was the national bird of freedom which was being treated so ignominiously, and the sculptor was entreated to substitute some other creature. An eminent authority on the Park Commission states that the “'Stone Age' is among the most masterly works which have been added to the decorations of the Park, and Mr. Boyle is undoubtedly the first sculptor who has adequately presented the Indian's case in American art.” Some of the decorations of the Transportation building at the Columbian Exposition were the work of Mr. Boyle, and at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo he exhibited “The Savage Age,” a group of historical value.