User:CLAvalon/Coal Miner (Szaton)

Coal Miner, is a public artwork by American artist John J. Szaton (1907-1966), located on the West lawn of the Indiana Statehouse or Capitol building, which is in Indianapolis, IN, United States. This statue is a copy of a work by Szaton originally commissioned by the Illinois state government in 1963. The statue commemorates Indiana's hard working coal miners and those who lost their lives in the state's industrial history. It stands over 7 feet tall on a 3 foot tall granite base which is supported by a cement foundation 4-6 inches thick. The statue is cast bronze it was first sculpted in plaster and was later cast twice, once to create the Illinois statue which was dedicated in 1964 and later the Indiana statue which was dedicated in 1966, both were created at the Spampinato Art Workshop foundry in Chicago, IL.

Description
The Coal Miner stands 85 in. tall facing West in the North West corner of the Indiana Statehouse lawn. He is dressed in bib overalls, boots, a belt, a long sleeve shirt and a miner's hat. He has a contrapposto stance with his proper left foot forward. He carries a miner's fire safety lamp or "bug light", in his proper left hand which is by his side. His proper right hand is raised, gripping the base of a miner's pick axe which sits on his proper right shoulder. The sleeve of his proper right arm is unbuttoned and hangs open on his forearm below where he is gripping the pick axe. The belt which hangs at his waist has three visible belt punches. He wears a MSA Comfo Cap Model P miner's hat with its battery pack clipped to the backside of his belt. The miner is modeled after a painting created by miner, artist and poet Vachel Davis. Michael F. Widman and official of the United Mine Workers of America.