PAUL HOWARD MANSHIP (1885-1966)

The present work was initially conceived as a decorative element for one of the terminals on Manship's design for the Paul J. Rainey Memorial Gateway in the New York Zoological Gardens in the Bronx. According to Harry Rand, "The dense, absolutely compact form is covered with surface patterns to indicate the monkey's hair and is based on studies that include some of Manship's finest drawings...Manship captured the form and attitude of these animals and their humanly mediative state." (H. Rand, Paul Manship, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1989, pp. 107-10)