Comanche is Dead
Exhibition
Exhibition Overview
Comanche is Dead
Kris Ercums, curator
September 30, 2013–January 5, 2014
Gallery 316
In October, 2013, Mexico City–based artist Diego Teo came to the KU campus as part of the Spencer Museum of Art’s International Artist-in-Residence program. Intrigued by the story of Comanche, the taxidermied horse long displayed at KU’s Natural History Museum, the artist created his own sculpture of the famed specimen. Basing his process on historic photographs of KU Professor Lewis Lindsay Dyche’s (1857–1915) preservation of Comanche in the 1890s, Teo and collaborator Dasha Chernysheva painstakingly replicated in both method and material the armature that gives shape to the horse. The artistic process, which was broadcast via live feed in the Natural History Museum as part of the cross-museum collaboration, stopped just short of covering the horse-like structure with the animal’s hide.
Once he had constructed a new Comanche, Teo buried the replica in an intimate ceremony. A modest stone with the word Comanche painted in black indicates the entombment mound as part of the current exhibition, Comanche is Dead, which also includes the artist’s original drawings and objects from the Spencer Museum’s permanent collections. This video documents Teo’s residency, with several shots comparing the Spencer Museum’s documentation of the present-day artistic process with the Natural History Museum’s documentation of Professor Dyche’s late 19th-century taxidermy process.
Exhibition images
Works of art

late 1800s–1916

late 1800s–1928

1861–1889

late 1800s–1976

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–1976

late 1800s–1976

late 1800s–early 1900s

late 1800s–early 1900s

late 1800s–mid 1900s

late 1800s–mid 1900s

late 1800s–early 1900s

late 1800s–early 1900s

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–1992

late 1800s–1926

late 1800s–1926

late 1800s–1926

late 1800s–1980

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–2007

late 1800s–2007
Events
October 10, 2013
Talk
12:00–1:00PM
307 Reception Room, Gallery 316
October 12, 2013
Workshop
9:30AM–12:00PM
Gallery 316, 307 Reception Room
October 27, 2013
Activity
1:00–3:00PM
Gallery 317 Central Court, Gallery 318, Front Lawn
December 4, 2013
Talk
5:30–6:30PM
Gallery 316