Book Description
This book, the first of a two-volume set documenting the distinguished and comprehensive collection of American sculpture at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, focuses on late nineteenth-century works. The book includes sculpture by such masters as Hiram Powers, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Gaston Lachaise, and it offers premier examples of neoclassical ideal nudes, expressive genre statuettes, studies for monumental sculpture, portraits in a variety of styles and materials, and much more.

From the Inside Flap
Edited by Thayer Tolles Catalogue by Lauretta Dimmick, Donna J. Hassler, and Thayer Tolles Photographs by Jerry L. ThompsonThe Metropolitan Museum of Art has a distinguished and comprehensive collection of late nineteenth-century American sculpture, particularly strong in neoclassical and Beaux Arts works and acclaimed for its preeminent group of lifesize statues in marble and bronze. This is the first volume of a two-volume set that will record the museum's collection.The museum's holdings-and the book-accurately document the history of American sculpture and its development as a profession. They range from work by artists who lived in Italy and carved marble and those who studied in Paris and cast in bronze to those who worked only in the United States and were pioneers in the techniques of their art. The artworks represent high points in the careers of such renowned sculptors as Hiram Powers, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Gaston Lachaise, and Paul Manship. Included are premier examples of neoclassical ideal nudes, expressive genre statuettes, naturalistic representations of Native American subjects, studies for and reductions after monumental sculpture, dramatic depictions of animals, and many portraits in the preferred styles and materials of each period. An essay by Thayer Tolles discusses the history of the Metropolitan Museum's American sculpture collection, and there are detailed entries on all works.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a distinguished and comprehensive collection of late nineteenth-century American sculpture, particularly strong in neoclassical and Beaux Arts works and acclaimed for its preeminent group of lifesize statues in marble and bronze. This is the first volume of a two-volume set that will record the museum's collection.

The museum's holdings—and the book—accurately document the history of American sculpture and its development as a profession. They range from work by artists who lived in Italy and carved marble and those who studied in Paris and cast in bronze to those who worked only in the United States and were pioneers in the techniques of their art. The artworks represent high points in the careers of such renowned sculptors as Hiram Powers, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Gaston Lachaise, and Paul Manship. Included are premier examples of neoclassical ideal nudes, expressive genre statuettes, naturalistic representations of Native American subjects, studies for and reductions after monumental sculpture, dramatic depictions of animals, and many portraits in the preferred styles and materials of each period. An essay by Thayer Tolles discusses the history of the Metropolitan Museum's American sculpture collection, and there are detailed entries on all works.

About the Author: Thayer Tolles is assistant curator, department of American paintings and sculpture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lauretta Dimmick is an independent scholar in American art. Donna J. Hassler is executive director, Rensselaer County Historical Society, Troy, New York.

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