Lot 205: Leo Friedlander (American, 1888-1966) Art Deco Bronze of a Young Lady

Inscribed "Rhoda Frieda Friedlander Pearl Mother. Artist, wife of sculptor Leo Friedlander, AD, MCMXXIV." Leo Friedlander exhibited drawings at the Art Students League in New York when he was only twelve years old. He worked as a modeler in an ornamental shop for many years, then studied in Brussels, Paris, and Rome before returning to New York. He is best known for his colossal public monuments, including the equestrian statues Valor and Sacrifice at Washington's Memorial Bridge, and the thirty-three-foot figures representing the "four freedoms" (speech, press, religion, and assembly) created for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Friedlander was the architect of monuments. His projects were colossal in scope. Unlike his peer Paul Manship, he did very little studio work. His achievements and credentials nevertheless are clearly equal to those of his better known peer. This bronze was first exhibited in the early fifties at both the National Academy of Design in new York and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1984 it was exhibited in a retrospective of the artists work at the Hudson River Museum: “Sculpture on a Grand Scale: Works From the Studio of Leo Friedlander”, and was illustrated in the catalog.

Ht. 27" W 17"

Original patina.

Peter Bissell Collection, Cooperstown, NY.