Harriet Whitney Frishmuth

American, 1880 - 1980

BiographyAs a teenager Harriet Frishmuth studied sculpture in Paris classes (with critiques by Auguste Rodin) and later enrolled at the Academie Colarossi there. On her return to the United States she studied with Gutzon Borglum at the Art Students League, served an apprenticeship with Karl Bitter, and opened her own studio in New York in 1908. Working to popular and critical acclaim in the 1910s and 1920s, Frishmuth won awards in exhibits such as the Panama Pacific International Exposition and the National Academy’s annual shows.

While Frishmuth was an accomplished sculptor of portraits and animals, her typical artwork is a slim, young female nude, often in a dancing or stretching pose. Frishmuth cast her nubile figures in varying sizes, for home display as well as for museum exhibitions and for fountains in parks and gardens. On a small scale, she also designed bookends and ashtrays in bronze with her characteristic sleek figures.

A collection of Frishmuth papers and related materials is at the Special Collections Research Center of the Syracuse University Library.
http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?artist=89916 Accessed 7.26.2006

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