Paul Manship, Fire (from The Four Elements), commissioned in 1914, installed 1921 in the American Telephone and Telegraph Building, 195 Broadway, New York (designed by Wm Welles Bosworth). Parcel-gilt bronze relief. Courtesy of Gerald Peters Gallery. Private collection. © Estate of Paul Manship.

One of the most celebrated American sculptors of the early-twentieth century, Paul Manship (1885-1966) blended ancient motifs to fit modern sensibilities. After studying at the American Academy in Rome (1909-12), Manship returned to New York City, where his dramatic, energetic works in bronze reinterpreted forms, stories, and styles of the past for the modern American age. His streamlined, Art Deco style, and ability to represent his subjects at peak moments of drama attracted critical acclaim, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. Seen together in this exhibition, his signature bronzes and associated sketches paired with ancient artifacts illuminate how Manship became a master of sampling imagery and melding disparate visual elements from multiple cultural traditions. "Today we call this a mash-up," says Erin Monroe, Robert H. Schutz, Jr., Associate Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Wadsworth. "It's a practice that has permeated popular culture, in music, fashion, and the visual arts, for example." Paul Manship: Ancient Made Modern, the first museum exhibition in 30 years and novel in its examination of this aspect of the artist's work, will be on view February 11 to July 3, 2021 at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, in Hartford, Conn. 

Organized into three themes, the exhibition examines the influence of the art of the past, on Manship's twentieth-century modern style. Breaking Through in Bronze, looks at Manship's foundational years studying in Italy after winning a prestigious Rome Prize. His artistic path can be rooted in this significant time in his life.

Several important loans from the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul, MN (the artist's hometown), tell the story of his early mastery of bronze, a medium that would define his career. One of the loans, a 1912 sketch of a frieze from the Treasury of Siphnians, in Delphi, reveals an interest in pattern and ornament evident in one of his first fully realized bronzes, the Wadsworth's Centaur and Dryad (1913). This sculpture shows mythological figures mounted atop a base carved in low-relief on all four sides. Along the bands of the base are ornamental details similar to those in the sketch. The dryad's almond-shaped eyes and stylized hair reveal elements Manship adapted from ancient art that would become hallmarks of his work. Early sculptures and drawings by Manship are interspersed with ancient artifacts representative of those he closely studied during his 3-years in Rome and on later travels throughout the Mediterranean, Europe, and Egypt. The form of a Cypriote statue of a standing man, the narrative and ornamental details from Greek vessels such as an Oil Flask (c. 475-460 BCE), and low-relief carving style inspired by an Assyrian relief fragment from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE), all found their way into Manship's sculptures.

Paul Manship, Frieze Detail from Treasury of Siphnians, Delphi, 1912. Graphite on paper. Minnesota Museum of American Art, Bequest of Paul H. Manship. © Estate of Paul Manship

Hermonax Painter (Greek, 5th century BCE), Oil flask (Lekythos), made Attica, Greece c. 475–450 BCE. Terracotta. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, purchased through the gift of Henry and Walter Keney.

 Assyrian, Nimrud (now Nineveh Province, Iraq), from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Relief panel, 883– 859 BCE. Gypsum. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Gift of Reverend D.W. Marsh and Burgess P. Starr through the courtesy of the Connecticut Historical Society.

Modernizing Mythology explores Manship's affinity for mythological subjects, and his unique way of illuminating age-old storylines. Examples of Manship's captivating bronze sculptures are displayed adjacent to large-scale architectural designs, representing his ability to work on projects of varying scale. Statuettes such as the beautifully silhouetted Flight of Night (1916) possess a sense of movement. An allegory of the goddess Diana, her body appears to stretch across the evening sky, poised atop the mystical moon. A series of panels from the American Telephone and Telegraph Building in Lower Manhattan (commissioned in 1914; installed in 1921) feature voluptuous, muscular male and female figures that blend elements of Asian and Ancient art. Floating in dreamlike realms, the accents of gold and carved ornamentation fuse a multicultural aesthetic into a glitzy, modern Art Deco design.

 Paul Manship, Diana, cast 1925 (one of a pair). Bronze on marble base. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, gift of anonymous donor. © Estate of Paul Manship