Paul Howard Manship (1885 to 1966)
Paul Howard Manship was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. His early studies were at the St. Paul Institute of Arts and the Pennsylvania Academy of the fine Arts in Philadelphia. As a student and apprentice, he worked with George Bridgman, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, Solon Borglum, Charles Grafly and Isidore Konti. In 1909 he won the Prix de Rome scholarship and began his studies at the American Academy in Rome. Inspired by Pre-Classical art, his work became increasingly simple in line and detail, prefiguring the Art Deco movement and appealing to many who wished to move beyond the Beaux-Arts.
Manship, a member of the Legion of Honor, the National Academy of Design, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Untied States Commission of Fine Arts and other prominent organizations, produced over 700 works in his career. His public commissions included the Memorial gateway of the new York Zoological Gardens, works at the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs in New York, the John F. Kennedy Inaugural Presidential medal, architectural sculpture, fountains and his best know commission, the monumental gilded bronze figure of Prometheus in New York’s Rockefeller Center.
Information courtesy of David Rago Auctions, May 2007.