HARRIET WHITNEY FRISHMUTH (1880-1980)

Harriet Frishmuth wrote of the inspiration for Peter Pan: "A cousin of mine whom I never met always wanted one of my pieces. After her death, her husband, Dr. Craig, came to the studio and asked me if I could make a Peter Pan to place between her grave and his in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, as she had an affinity for Peter Pan and hated being 'grown up.' I told the little boy who posed for the piece the story of Peter Pan and said to him, ‘If you were out in the dark, in the woods, and you looked up at the stars for the very first time, what position would you take?’ He looked at me with his eyes bright and said, ‘I’d take this pose’ and sat right down on the model table in the pose of my Peter Pan.” ("Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, American Sculptor," The Courier, vol. IX, no. 1, Syracuse, New York, 1971, p. 29)

Peter Pan was cast in an edition of ten, five by Gorham and five by Roman Bronze Works. Other examples of Peter Pan are in the collections of the Forest Lawn Museum, Glendale, California, and the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut.