.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
'Diana' is one of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' most celebrated models and exhibits all of the hallmarks of the sculptor's strongest forms. Henry Duffy writes of the sculptor, "In contrast to practitioners of narrative or genre art, which developed in painting in the second half of the nineteenth century, Saint-Gaudens allowed the subject and the material to speak directly, and in this he was an early proponent of modernism. Saint-Gaudens is important as both an artist and a strong force in the development of America's cultural life. As a teacher and activist, he played a prominent role in shaping the country's understanding of the art of sculpture." (Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor of the Gilded Age, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 2003, p. 15) The only model of a female nude that the artist ever created, 'Diana' represents the Saint Gauden's innovative approach to a classical subject that garnered him the distinction of a leader of nineteenth-century American sculpture.
The monumental figure of Diana was originally conceived in 1886, as a weathervane for the tower of Stanford White's Madison Square Garden. In honor of the grand opening of the original sports and entertainment arena in 1891, "White made New York's first spectacular use of the Edison light bulb, stringing 6,600 bulbs around the Garden's outer walls and lavishing an additional 1,400 more on the tower. In addition, ten giant arc lights were trained on the gilded weather vane." (Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor of the Gilded Age , p. 81) The eighteen-foot figure proved oversized, unwieldy and imbalanced and, in 1892, was removed from the site. The sculpture was then installed atop the McKim, Mead and White pavilion at the Columbian Exposition, where it was partially burned in a fire.
Saint-Gaudens revised his model and, in 1894, a second version was placed on top of the Madison Square Garden tower. A mere thirteen feet high, it is now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This landmark sculpture was so notorious and popular that Saint-Gaudens immediately copyrighted the model and produced an edition of hand-modeled reductions in two sizes with variations in details such as the base, sphere, bow and hair. The present sculpture manifests the elegant lines and balance of form that define Saint-Gaudens' best work.
Artist, critic and a contemporary of Saint-Gaudens, Lorado Taft, praises the sculptor's merits and influence, "With the advent of Saint Gaudens there came a notable change in the spirit of American Sculpture, while the rapid transformation of its technic[sic] was no less marked and significant...The influence of such a man as Saint Gaudens...becomes incalculable when multiplied through the pupils whom he has brought up to share his labors and his triumphs." (as quoted in Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor of the Gilded Age, p.28)
The monumental figure of Diana was originally conceived in 1886, as a weathervane for the tower of Stanford White's Madison Square Garden. In honor of the grand opening of the original sports and entertainment arena in 1891, "White made New York's first spectacular use of the Edison light bulb, stringing 6,600 bulbs around the Garden's outer walls and lavishing an additional 1,400 more on the tower. In addition, ten giant arc lights were trained on the gilded weather vane." (Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor of the Gilded Age , p. 81) The eighteen-foot figure proved oversized, unwieldy and imbalanced and, in 1892, was removed from the site. The sculpture was then installed atop the McKim, Mead and White pavilion at the Columbian Exposition, where it was partially burned in a fire.
Saint-Gaudens revised his model and, in 1894, a second version was placed on top of the Madison Square Garden tower. A mere thirteen feet high, it is now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This landmark sculpture was so notorious and popular that Saint-Gaudens immediately copyrighted the model and produced an edition of hand-modeled reductions in two sizes with variations in details such as the base, sphere, bow and hair. The present sculpture manifests the elegant lines and balance of form that define Saint-Gaudens' best work.
Artist, critic and a contemporary of Saint-Gaudens, Lorado Taft, praises the sculptor's merits and influence, "With the advent of Saint Gaudens there came a notable change in the spirit of American Sculpture, while the rapid transformation of its technic[sic] was no less marked and significant...The influence of such a man as Saint Gaudens...becomes incalculable when multiplied through the pupils whom he has brought up to share his labors and his triumphs." (as quoted in Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor of the Gilded Age, p.28)