The ancient world as Art Deco through the eyes of Paul Manship

I've been doing more background research on depictions of the myth of Actaeon in Pompeii and elsewhere and stumbled across this pair of sculptures of Artemis and Actaeon produced by American artist Paul Manship.  Although I personally prefer the realism of Hellenistic art, I'm still pleased to see modern art inspired by ancient history and myth as it serves as a reminder of the foundations of our culture.
These sculptures reflect this American artist's love of art history and classical themes in particular. The hunter Actaeon surprises the goddess Diana while she was bathing. To prevent him from telling anybody that he has seen her naked, the goddess fires an arrow that turns him into a stag. In the sculpture, Actaeon appears to have been just hit, with his metamorphosis into a stag just beginning, while the accompanying piece shows Diana with her bow raised. In this way, Manship created a link between the two sculptures through the flight of an unseen arrow.

Paul Manship, 1885-1966, was an American sculptor who created mythological pieces in the classical style and was a major force in the Art Deco movement.  He also created the iconic Prometheus sculpture in Rockefeller Center in New York.  Manship studied at the St. Paul School of Art in Minnesota then the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Students League of New York studying both art and anatomy.  After serving as an assistant to sculptors Solon Borglum and Isidore Konti, he won the prestigious Rome Prize in 1909 and subsequently moved to Rome where he attended the Amaerican Academy from 1909-1912.  While in Europe he became increasingly interested in Archaic art. His own work began to take on some archaic features, and he became more and more attracted to classical subjects. He also developed an interest in classical sculpture of India. Manship was one of the first artists to become aware of the vast scope of art history being newly revealed in excavations at the time and became intensely interested in Egyptian, Assyrian and pre-classical Greek sculpture.

I first saw his work when I was photographing the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and found his dramatic portrayal of Salome intriguing.  The National Gallery of Art is part of the Smithsonian consortium of museums.  Manship's other sculptures are featured in their American Art Museum.

Paul Manship's Artemis and Actaeon, 1922, at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum

Salome by Paul Manship, 1915, photographed by Mary Harrsch at the National Gallery of Art 

Flight of Europa by Paul Manship, 1925, at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum courtesy of Flickr user cliff1066,

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