PAUL HOWARD MANSHIP, after, "Indian Hunter", patinated metal, monogram signed TW G.

Dimensions L 55 x W 25 x H 48 cm.
Born St. Paul, MN 1885-died New York City 1966. The country's most famous exponent of Art Deco, he embraced archaic vocabularies of Greek, Roman and Indian art to create decorative, stylized, neoclassical works. The statue in the fountain at Rockefeller Plaza in New York, Prometheus (1933) is one of his famous works. When he was fifteen years old, Paul Manship had decided that he wanted to become a sculptor. He was born on the day before Christmas, 1885, in St. Paul, Minnesota, the youngest of seven children. After attending Mechanical Arts High School, he took evening classes at St. Paul Institute School of Art, but left to work as a designer and illustrator.

In 1905 he enrolled in the Art Students League in New York City and, after a few months of formal study, became an assistant to the sculptor Solon Borglum, whom he considered a critical influence on his work. After further studies, he received a three-year scholarship to study in Rome where he was enchanted by the beauty of Greek antiquity and classicism. He traveled extensively before returning to the United States in 1912 where he became an instant success and launched a career that would last fifty years.

The critics and the public unanimously hailed him as a great new talent. There was a rising tide of enthusiasm for his graceful work, and he sold all ninety-six bronze statues he displayed in his first exhibition. A year later he received his first important commissions for garden and architectural sculpture from New York architects.

Early in his career, Manship was attracted to animal sculptures and showed a keen interest in mythical stories and characters. He became known for his freely modeled forms and dramatic gestures. “I like to express movement in my figures. It's a fascinating problem that I'm always trying to solve," he said. He also noted, "I am not particularly interested in anatomy, although of course I have studied it. And while I generally approve of normal correct proportions, what matters is the spirit the artist puts into his creation - the vitality, the rhythm, the emotional impact.Some of Manship's well-known works include the Prometheus Fountain in Rockefeller Center, the gates to the entrances to the Bronx Zoo and the Central Park Zoo, and the sculptures Time and Fates Sundial and Moods of Time installed in front of the Trylon and Perisphere at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City.

Nora Panzer Mythology and the Art of Paul Manship, Teacher's Guide (Washington, DC: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1989).