Dancer and Gazelles

This graceful trio by Paul Manship exemplifies his ability to synthesize different artistic influences in his work. The dancer, raised elegantly on the balls of her feet, gestures with her arms toward the two gazelles. Her pose is reminiscent of figures in medieval Indian paintings while the stylized draped fabric of her skirt recalls archaic Greek sculpture. Manship demonstrated his keen eye for detail in the intricate linear ornament that adorns the skirt and the base of the sculpture. Despite the artist’s assimilation of past art forms, works like Dancer and Gazelles were seen as fresh and original; as one critic noted in 1916 “the extreme modernists and the academicians united in paying tribute to his genius.”