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Manship comes to auction
Posted On: 06 Nov 2024 by Isaac GoodwinBusby are delighted to offer for sale, on the 21st of November, a small bronze by Paul Howard Manship, with exceptional provenance. The bronze, depicting a girl running with her dog, is part of the estate of the late Antonia Cole. Antonia is the girl depicted in the bronze.
Antonia's grandmother was Evelyn St George, nee Baker, who married Howard Bligh St George in 1891, and some years later started a long affair with his cousin, the artist William Orpen. She moved to London in 1912 where she met many of the successful artists of the day, including Paul Manship, who was at the time living in London with John Singer Sargent.
In 1924, Manship made a bronze portrait of Evelyn's daughter, Vivian St George, now in the Brooklyn Museum (inv. no. 2008.68). Later, Evelyn commissioned a portrait of her grandaughter Antonia, aged four. This portrait was sold most recently at Sothebys, European Sculpture & Works of Art, July 2nd 2024, lot 292.
Paul Manship was one of America's foremost sculptors of the era, and a major force in the Art Deco movement. He trained under the sculptor Solon Borglum for several years, before studying under Charles Grafly and Isidore Konti. Among his most prominent commissions are Prometheus in the Rockefeller Center, and the Celestial Sphere Woodrow Wilson Memorial in Geneva.
The piece is offered with a sale estimate of £10,000-£20,000.
