Description: genre; part of group with 1945.481, Pronghorn Antelope
Label Text: A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Paul Manship attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before winning the Prix de Rome, which allowed him to study in Rome from 1909 and 1912. His grasp of ancient Greek and Roman art directed his aesthetic as well as his choice of mythological subject matter. Manship was at the forefront of the Art Deco movement and was internationally renowned for his flowing, stylized figures, including the Prometheus Fountain at Rockefeller Center Plaza in New York.
In 1914, Manship produced a pair of small bronzes, Indian Hunter and Pronghorn Antelope (each about 14 inches high), in which he fused his signature style (boasting modern contours and lines) with his interest in mythological figures. The astrological constellations of Sagittarius and Capricorn (the archer and the ram) may also play a role. Manship used the empty space between the pair to indicate the imaginary trajectory of the kneeling Indian's arrow.
Herbert L. Pratt (Class of 1895) admired the bronzes and in 1917 he commissioned Manship to cast them on a grander scale. These life size works graced the garden of Pratt's home in Glen Cove, New York, until Pratt's death in 1945. The pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana which translates as "American goat-antelope") is unique to North America, and is known for its excellent vision, hearing, and sense of smell. This animal can run as fast as 60 miles per hour.
Tags: warriors; weapons; figures; male; indigenous people Link to share this object record: https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1945.482 |