295 - Paul Howard Manship, Dancer, bronze, silver-plated

Paul Howard Manship, Dancer, bronze, silver-plated Paul Howard Manship, 1885 Saint Paul, Minnesota - 1966 New York, American sculptor, girl in an antique-style gown with a matching hairstyle, her head tilted, standing on a sphere and holding the hem of her gown as it flutters in the wind, bronze, silver-plated, height 16.5 cm, signed, on a black marble plinth, total height 26 cm About the artist: Paul H. Manship began his art studies at the St. Paul School of Art in Minnesota. From there, he moved to Philadelphia and continued his training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He then went to New York City, where he enrolled at the Art Students League of New York; there he studied anatomy under George Bridgman and modelling under Hermon Atkins MacNeil. From 1905 to 1907, he worked as an assistant to the sculptor Solon Borglum; he spent the following two years studying under Charles Grafly and assisting Isidore Konti. Manship created mythological works in the classical style and was a leading figure in the Art Deco movement. He caused a stir early in his career by turning away from Beaux-Arts architecture and instead favouring linear compositions characterised by fluid simplicity. He is best known for his large-scale public commissions, including the famous Prometheus statue at Rockefeller Centre and the ‘Celestial Sphere’ (Woodrow Wilson Memorial) in Geneva. He also designed the modern version of New York City’s official seal.