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Collection

Sculpture in Context

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Artist(s): Paul Manship (St. Paul, MN, Dec 24, 1885 - Feb 1, 1966, New York, NY)
Title: Actaeon
Date: casting 1925
Dimensions: 49 1/2 x 52 x 15 5/8 in. (126 x 132 x 40 cm)
Medium: Bronze on marble base
Credit Line: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, Gift of anonymous donor, 1930.294

Object Information

Paul Manship was one of American’s most prominent early twentieth-century sculptors. The Minnesota-born Manship won the coveted Prix de Rome at the American Academy in Rome in 1909 which led to three years of European study of archaic and classical sculpture. By his return to the United States his work was garnering attention for its careful navigation between abstraction and representation. Manship’s first show in New York at the end of 1912 sold out, and from then on his sculpture was in demand. With its polished surfaces, undulated forms, and controlled linear ornamentation, his work was the manifestation of what came to be known as Art Deco.

The Addison Gallery has held Paul Manship’s work in high regard from its earliest days. The young artist was a close friend and associate of Charles A. Platt, the architect of the museum. In 1928, the committee assembling the collection for the anticipated museum had purchased Manship’s, <i>Flight of Night</i>. When Platt was designing the Addison in 1930, he engaged Manship to create the fountain, <i>Venus Anadyomene</i>, to take place of pride in the museum’s central rotunda. That year the Art Committee also added three bronze sculptures, including the iconic pair of <i>Diana</i> and <i>Actaeon</i>. Later gifts of a larger version of <i>Flight of Night</i> and a number of bronze medallions bring the total number of Manship works in the collection to ten. In addition, Manship’s Armillary Sphere</i> adorns the south side of the Great Lawn of Phillips Academy’s Charles Platt-designed campus.

Exhibition History

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Sculpture in Context, Addison Gallery of American Art, 4/17/1999 - 7/31/1999
Explorations: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints in the Addison, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/4/2001 - 1/13/2002
Figure/Space: Selected Works from the Addison, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/3/2002 - 12/29/2002
80th Celebration of Castle Hill/Crane Estate, The Trustees of Reservations/Castle Hill, 7/14/2008 - 12/31/2008
Loan Extension of 80th Celebration of Castle Hill/Crane Estate, The Trustees of Reservations/Castle Hill, 1/1/2009 - 6/30/2009
Loan Extension of 80th Celebration of Castle Hill/Crane Estate, The Trustees of Reservations/Castle Hill, 7/1/2009 - 2/28/2010
Inside, Outside, Upstairs, Downstairs: The Addison Anew, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/7/2010 - 3/27/2011
Taking Shape: Sculpture at the Addison, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/17/2016 - 3/19/2017
From Starfield to MARS: Paul Manship and his Artistic Legacy  [Art Deco at Andover (gal 201) Starfield Through Contemporary Lenses (gals 202-5)], Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/15/2018 - 1/20/2019
Paul Manship: Melding Ancient into Modern, Wadsworth Atheneum, 2/11/2021 - 7/4/2021

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