Custer Bust

[frank h]

Hi
After years of searching I finaly managed to pick up
Kirin's bust of Custer on Ebay

This is a terrific bust sculpted by Mike Good (bonehead)
It is in my opinion the best representation of the man
I have ever seen

So a couple questions come to mind ...was his hair colour really
noticably blonde ?

I have also heard he had freckles is this so as it is not
clear in the photographs of the time

Any help on this is greatly appreciated

Frank

 

[Roy]

Hey Frank...nice find...it's a beautiful bust to be sure..
I was looking through some old Campaign magazines I have, in No.22,Vol3 May/June 1979 there's a six page article on the uniforms of Custer with some very good pictures...
I've attached one of Custer as a Cadet from around 1859, you can just discern the freckles, especially around the bridge of the nose...the later pictures in the article are of slightly less quality and they are not visible. A portrait by Craig A Schermer depicts Custer with very red hair...and written accounts recall him as having blonde locks..
Needless to say Frank, if you want a copy of the article, just let me know and I'll scan it and e-mail it to you.

All the best.....Roy.

 

[bonehead]

Hello Frank,

Thanks for your comments about the bust. Custer is one of those guys i have always wanted to depict. As such, I acquired a few books chock full of photos of him. There are a surprising number of photos of him, since he was, obviously, a very vain fellow! The large number of photos were carefully studied before I began the portrait head. This was essential to capturing his character.

The best photos clearly show that his face was literally covered with freckles. This is reflected by my paint job on the bust, although this may not be apparent in the box illustration.

As for hair color, how do you interpret this from a pile of black and white photos? The answer is that you can only make an educated guess.....

Some written descriptions suggest that his hair was reddish. Others say blonde. The photos show that his hair was on the pale side, but not a true. pale blonde color. Also, people did not spend a lot of time washing their hair in those days, so the photos tend to show the hair as greasy. This would naturally make the hair appear darker than it actually would be if it had been clean!

So, you can make the hair whatever color the above might siggest to you. On my figure, I went with a slightly reddish dirty blonde color. Your guess is as good as mine........

Close enuf for gubmint werk!

 

[frank h]

Roy, Mike,
Thanks for the information on this

Roy, those articles would be greatly appreciated thanks for the offer

Mike, thanks for some background on your terrifc paint job, with
magnification .. on the box photo .. was able to see the freckles you painted

This Bust will reward careful painting
thinking about going back to my oils for the face

once again thanks to you both

will post .. when i make a start

Frank

 

[alexwencho]

Custer by MIKE GOOD.

 

[megroot]

Hey Frank,

If i made a quess. When i was a boy i had freggles and red hair. So if Custer had red hair, the possibility of freggles is 90 %.
If he is blond, freggles are not so usual but it good.
And in those days the film for photogravure was not as good as today. The film was not responding to the white colour. Therefore the Romans had to wear Red in the early movies.
So if the hair was red it will apair as dark black in a picture.

I hope this is usefull for your bust.
About the freggles. I'm personally a expert :lol:

Marc

 

[frank h]

Hi Marc
Thanks for the information ...
its amazing what we learn in the course of research
all i got to do now .. is when i paint ... keep the freckles subtle
but noticable

Its going to be fun trying ... when i get to a stage i am happy with ... wil ask you to comment good or bad :lol:

Hope all is well with you my friend

Frank

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by frank h@Nov 16 2005, 08:16 PM
...keep the freckles subtle but noticable

Hi Frank, that's probably the degree to aim for. If you have the guts, and in oils you have a lot of leeway, I would aim to give him an overall mask of freckles with the darkest (and some of the largest) across the nose and upper cheeks, where he would catch the most sun.

Custer was probably what we'd call today a strawberry blonde. His hair would get lighter, and hence blonder, with exposure to the sun and since he was out of doors a lot that's one reason his later portraits show lighter hair than when he was a young cadet. Also bearing in mind that longer hair = older hair and once bleached it stays that way.

...I live in Ireland and I like redheads, what can I tell you :lol:

Einion

 

[frank h]

Hi Einion
Thanks for your advice and insight. The strawberry blonde
hair colour seems to fit in with what i want to achieve

I am planning to paint another bust ... just the facial area
to experiment with tones........ ages since I had the oil paints out
along side Custer
all in the planning stage at present

Wonder could I persuade my wife to dye her hair strawberry blonde
Just a thought and will probably remain so :lol:

Frank