Peter Wolf Toth (rhymes with ‘oath’) was born in 1947 (one of eleven children) into poor circumstances in the newly formed Republic of Hungary. His early years were marked by injustice and violence.
During the 1956 uprising, the Hungarian borders were open, briefly (before the Soviet tanks rolled in), and the Toth family took the opportunity to flee. After two years of being shuttled from refugee camp to refugee camp, Toth and his family eventually immigrated to the United States, and settled in Akron, Ohio. (Quahog)
As Toth grew up in his new country, he developed a deep interest in native North American culture and history. He saw in their story a parallel to the violent repression he had experienced in Hungary.
Although he studied art briefly at the University of Akron, and learned a lot from watching his father (also an artist), Toth considers himself to be self-taught.
In 1971 at age 24, Toth carved a statue of a native American (locally dubbed “the scarfaced Indian”) into a sandstone cliff in La Jolla, California – the first of what he referred to his ‘long Trail of the Whispering Giants.’
In Peter Wolf Toth’s words, “my monuments are made to remind people of the contributions of the Indians of this country. Statues to honor the plight of the Native Peoples of North America.”
“I study the indigenous people of that state, that province, or even that country or island, and once I have a good visual image of who they are … that’s how I come up with these statues. I even try to intertwine the spirit of the tree and the spirit of the (native).” (Toth, Johnson City Press)
“The purpose of my work is to honor the (Native American) people, to honor all people facing injustice.” (Toth)
“Peter Wolf Toth had just dropped out of college and was traveling around the country when he found himself in La Jolla, where his brother has resided for decades.”
“Seeing a ‘haunted face’ in the stone set him on a lifelong mission to honor legendary Native Americans and the plight of occupied indigenous nations. Today, his Trail of Whispering Giants includes 74 sculptures, all of which he carved by hand.” (San Diego Reader)
“Toth is an artist in many senses of the word. … First, he was a painter. Then, he etched his first sculpture into a cliffside in California in 1972.”
“He returned to his home in Ohio in search of another cliff to place his second statue. While he didn’t find any cliffs, he came across a dead elm tree, and from then incorporated wood carving into his repertoire as a sculptor. For his Native American pieces, he strives to use wood native to the area in which he creates each piece.” (Johnson City Press)
Traveling the United States in his ‘Ghost Ship’ (a modified Dodge maxi-van), he spent summers in the north and winters in the south, stopping wherever local officials would allow or invite him to carve one of his ‘Whispering Giants.’
“From Alaska to Florida he has sculpted giant memorials to native Americans. Forty-nine states have welcomed him so far. One state has not. Hawaii.”
“‘I’ve committed myself to honoring the native peoples of this country,’ says Toth who fled Hungary in 1956, and found a home in what he believes is the greatest country in the world.”
“In appreciation, Toth, 37, has devoted the past 17 years to chiseling whole trees into gargantuan 20-ton likenesses which he calls ’Whispering Giants.’”
“These colossal achievements, for which Toth accepts no money, have been featured on all three television networks and in The New York Times.”
“‘Not that it matters, but some of my statues have been valued at up to $100,000 – which is the least of the meaning here,’ says Toth, who lives on the money he earns from the sale of less intimidating icons and books. ‘My biggest obstacle has usually been getting the log.’” (Honolulu Advertiser, Jan 1, 1988)
Later that year, “The Church of Hawaii Nei invited Toth to carve the giant statue on its property at 59-254 Kamehameha Highway in Sunset Beach. … Weyerhaeuser Paper Co donated a huge redwood tree trunk for the statue. …[T]he statue is named Maui Pohaku Loa, after ‘the demigod Maui … from the beginning of time to the end of time.’”
During Toth’s sculpturing, “A city building inspector … happened to drive by there Friday and stopped his car to see what was on the roadside. He got out his tape and measured the statue’s two parts; the face is 16 feet long and the pedestal 4 feet.”
“Based on his measurements and description of the statue, the city Department of Land Utilization determined yesterday that no permit was necessary to erect it.” (It was considered a work of art and not a structure.) (Star Bulletin, May 11, 1988) The Hawai‘i sculpture is no longer standing near Sunset Beach.
What is now dubbed the Trail of the Whispering Giants, a collection of Toth’s sculptures, ranging in height from 20 to 40 feet, and are between 8 and 10 feet in diameter. There was at least one in each of the 50 US states, as well as in Ontario and Manitoba, Canada, and one in Hungary. (Wright)
Because the statues are made from wood (each is carved from a single log and is hand-chiseled (no power tools)), many have been damaged by storms, rot, termites, and winds. He has replaced several of them. The Hawai‘i statue is no longer displayed and the property that it was on has sold. (Lot of information here is from quahog, memorialogy and postcardhistory.)
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