Commissioned by the Haskell Alumni Assn. in 1947 as a memorial to Haskell students killed during World War II, "Comrade in Mourning" is Allan Houser's first large-scale public sculpture.

Houser, a Chiricahua Apache, went on to become one of the nation's best-known American Indian artists. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1992. Houser, who did not attend Haskell, died in 1994.

A 160-piece exhibit of Houser's works will be on display at the national museum until Sept. 15, 2005
The Smithsonian hired Paul Benson, a curator at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., to inspect and clean "Comrade in Mourning." "It's in excellent condition. No chips, no cracks, nothing," Benson said. "It's a beautiful piece."