'Joy of the Waters'

Details

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880-1980)
'Joy of the Waters'
inscribed 'HARRIET W FRISMUTH SC/1972' (on the base)-- 'FINAL ED/65' and 'ROMAN BRONZE WORKS INC NY' (along the edge of the base)
bronze with verdigris patina
62½ in. (158.8 cm.) high

Literature

C.N. Aronson, Sculptured Hyacinths, New York, 1973, pp. 26, 107-9, another example illustrated.
J. Connor and J. Rosenkranz, Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works 1893-1939, Austin, Texas, 1989, pp. 37-8, 40-2, 191, another example illustrated.

Special notice

This lot is exempt from Sales Tax.

Lot Essay

Joan M. Marter writes: "Joy of the Waters, a spry female reacting to the splash of cold water on her feet, was modeled lifesize in 1917 (Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio) and revised in 1920 in a 45-inch size; an example of the latter served as her diploma piece when she was elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design in 1929." (T. Tolles, ed., American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Volume II. A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1865 and 1885, New York, 2001, p. 640) Although Frishmuth originally used her famed model Desha as the inspiration for this piece, Janette Ransome was the final model for this larger version first cast in 1920. The present work is from an edition of 65.

This design will be included in Leah Rosenblatt's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Harriet Whitney Frishmuth.

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