Chief Joseph (1840-1904) of the Nez Perce remains among the most celebrated American Indians of the 19th century, thanks to period photographs, books, magazine articles, paintings and public sculptures. Sculptors Dennis Burt, Doug Hyde and Georgia Bunn have each depicted the famed chief, known in his own language as Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt (Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain). There are similarities in their striking works, of course, but notable differences set them apart from other sculptural efforts, including Alonzo Victor Lewis' half dozen portrait heads of the warbonneted chief (placed in 1928 at key battlegrounds of the 1877 Nez Perce War), or Virgil "Smoker" Marchand's expressionistic rusted steel depiction of the chief (installed in 2010 in Nespelem, Wash., home to the Nez Perce reservation and Joseph's grave).

In 1985 Burt, of Enterprise, Ore., produced a life-size bronze of Chief Joseph after encouragement by a descendant of Nez Perce war leader Looking Glass and other tribal members. The modeling...