The Star

Details

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880-1980)
The Star
inscribed 'HARRIET W. FRISHMUTH 1918' (on the base)--stamped and numbered 'GORHAM CO FOUNDERS/Q505 #96' (along the base)
bronze with brown patina
19 ¼ in. (49 cm.) high on a ¾ in. (2 cm.) base

Literature

The Gorham Company, Bronze Division, Famous Small Bronzes, New York, 1928, pp. 34-35, another example illustrated.
C.N. Aronson, Sculptured Hyacinths, New York, 1973, pp. 101-05, 206, another example illustrated.
J. Conner, J. Rosenkranz, Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works 1893-1939, Houston, Texas, 1989, pp. 35, 38-39, 42, other examples illustrated.
J. Conner, L.R. Lehmbeck, T. Tolles, F.L. Hohmann III, Captured Motion, The Sculpture of Harriet Whitney Frishmuth: A Catalogue of Works, New York, 2006, pp. 20, 30-31, 66-67, 79n80, 99, 106, 107n10, 143-45, 148, 220, 237, 277, no. 1918:3, another example illustrated.

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Abigail Bisbee

abisbee@christies.com 212-636-2140

Lot Essay

"With The Star, Frishmuth and [her favorite model] Desha explored a more restrained mood--emotion contained within, passion was expressed more cerebrally than physically. In an interview late in life, Frishmuth explained that The Star was a three-dimensional expression of advice received from her mother: 'You must reach for the unattainable.'" (J. Conner, L.R. Lehmbeck, T. Tolles, F.L. Hohmann III, Captured Motion, The Sculpture of Harriet Whitney Frishmuth: A Catalogue of Works, New York, 2006, p. 30)

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