Paul Manship
Monumental sculpture and architecture have been closely intertwined since the days of ancient Greece. Paul Manship (1885–1966) benefited greatly from this connection, and many of his commissions were dependent on the new buildings and public spaces that were cropping up in major American cities during the early decades of the twentieth century. In addition, he created smaller-scale works that featured subjects drawn from classical mythology. Like the skyscrapers of the day, his sculptures are characterized by clean lines and decorative flourishes, qualities that link him to the trend known as Art Deco.
A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Manship’s precocious interest in art was fostered at the Mechanic Arts High School and by evening classes in painting and sculpture at the Saint Paul School of Art. At the age of twenty, in 1905, he began study at the Art Students League in New York and became a studio assistant of Solon Borglum, a prominent sculptor working in the classical tradition of the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. After short stints studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and then back in New York with Robert Henri, Manship won a three-year fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. In 1912, he made a trip to Greece where an encounter with archaic sculpture completely transformed his style.
Manship returned to New York, which would remain his base throughout his career, with lengthy periods spent abroad, traveling, fulfilling commissions, and supervising the casting of his bronzes. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, New York was booming, and large building projects took shape that required sculptural components. Even the Great Depression was not a complete deterrent; in 1934, he installed his best-known work, the monumental gilded Prometheus, at the base of Rockefeller Center in New York.
The sculptor was fortunate to have a network of fellow artists and architects who helped him procure commissions. In addition to Borglum, Daniel Chester French was a mentor and Manship was further befriended by John Singer Sargent in London and Bernard Berenson in Italy. Manship tutored other sculptors who were his studio assistants, most notably Gaston Lachaise and Reuben Nakian. In addition to his election as an academician at the National Academy of Design, he was active in professional sculpture circles, serving as the President of the National Sculpture Society, 1939–1942 and 1944–1945. During the lean years of World War II and afterward, when taste had changed away from representational work, Manship supported himself with portraiture and a few corporate and public commissions, including a statue of Theodore Roosevelt in Washington, DC. At his request, the Smithsonian American Art Museum became a major repository of his work following his death.
