So do you feel the sculptor was lying when he said who/what those figures represent? That seems to be a bit of an assumption without much evidence. Perhaps you

So do you feel the sculptor was lying when he said who/what those figures represent? That seems to be a bit of an assumption without much evidence. Perhaps you (and others) just disagree with the artist’s interpretation or find meaning where the artist intended something different. That happens a lot in works of art. I guess my perspective is that if the actual guide’s names and likeness that Roosevelt used were lost to history but as a sculptor but you still wanted to honor them…why wouldn’t you generically represent the cultures and races of those that helped him if they were important to the expeditions? That somehow seems less offensive to me than representing them as culturally generic…or not at all.