Playdays
Artist
Harriet Whitney Frishmuth
(American, 1880 - 1980)
Date1925
MediumBronze
Dimensions24 × 8 × 7 1/4 inches (61 × 20.3 × 18.4 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase.
Object number1927.4
On View
On view
CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextHarriet Whitney Frishmuth was born in Philadelphia, but spent her formative years in Europe. She first took a sculpture class in Paris, where her work was often critiqued by Auguste Rodin. The great sculptor’s advice to “remember that movement is the transition from one attitude to another” informed much of Frishmuth’s work in bronze. She went on to study at the Académie Colarossi in Paris as well as at the Art Students League in New York. The Gorham Company Founders in Providence, Rhode Island cast the Telfair’s Playdays, originally part of a fountain made for Mrs. J. L. Harriman’s North Carolina garden. The Telfair’s version, the smaller of two casts, was cast in 1925. Frishmuth used female dancers as her models because of their athletic bodies and their ability to hold a pose for a long time.