Collection
/
American Art

Vivian St. George and Her Dog

Paul Howard Manship

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

This sculpture of a young girl, posed as the young goddess Diana with her dog and bow and arrows, demonstrates how Paul Manship sought to meld ideal form inspired by classical Greek and Roman sculpture with a distinctly modern simplicity. He exercised careful control in forming the regularized volumes and polished surface, and added a touch of delicacy with the gilt detailing on the costume and hair. Vivian St. George was the only child of the Irish painter Sir William Orpen and the married American heiress Evelyn St. George. Manship received the portrait commission through his friend the American painter John Singer Sargent, with whom he lived briefly in London in the early 1920s.

Caption

Paul Howard Manship (American, 1885–1966). Vivian St. George and Her Dog, 1924. Bronze, parcel gilt, 43 1/2 × 24 × 16 in. (110.5 × 61 × 40.6 cm) mount: 44 × 23 × 14 in. (111.8 × 58.4 × 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the American Art Council and Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 2008.68. © Estate of Paul Howard Manship. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

American Art

Title

Vivian St. George and Her Dog

Date

1924

Medium

Bronze, parcel gilt

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

43 1/2 × 24 × 16 in. (110.5 × 61 × 40.6 cm) mount: 44 × 23 × 14 in. (111.8 × 58.4 × 35.6 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of the American Art Council and Dick S. Ramsay Fund

Accession Number

2008.68

Rights

© Estate of Paul Howard Manship

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Frequent Art Questions

  • Can you tell me why these two art works were paired to be shown next to each other?

    That's a great question, our curators have teamed up to combine fine arts (painting, sculpture) with decorative arts (furniture, household objects) in the galleries. These two works are close in date, the Manship sculpture is 1924, and the Frankl piece is late 1920s. They are both associated with the Art Deco, or Art Moderne, movement and they use streamlined forms and fine materials.
    That makes sense because even though they look really different they sort of feel similar. Thanks!
    The Frankl piece is inspired by 1920s skyscraper architecture, and Manship was looking back to ancient Greek sculpture but they were both interested in smooth contours and surfaces.

  • Why is she considered a goddess?

    Paul Manship is depicting this girl as the goddess Diana from Roman mythology. Diana was goddess of the hunt, which is why you see her with arrows.
    And the dog?
    The goddess Diana was known to be able to communicate with animals and control them so maybe that is an allusion as well.
    Wow. That's cool.
    Vivian St. George was the daughter of an Irish artist and an American heiress who were friends of Manship, and here he's indirectly comparing her to Diana. Perhaps he saw Vivian as pure and graceful, like the goddess was supposed to be.

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Artists and makers

Paul Howard Manship

1 work in the collection