catalog text
EDITH BARRETTO PARSONS
American, 1878-1956
Model of a Running Terrier
Patinated bronze | Signed "E.B. PARSONS (c)" | cold-stamped "GORHAM CO FOUNDERS OFCP"
Item # 110NQH31P
A very fine model of a Running Terrier from Edith Barretto Parsons' rather rare series of bookends capturing this playful creature in a variety of activities, it is a subject that was cast exclusively by the Gorham Co. foundry. It retains a wonderful surface texture indicative of an early mold with a complex verdigris patination over a chemical brown ground patina through which hints of a reddish-oxide come through. The underside is of the base is filled with a plaster core.
Born in Houston, Texas in 1878, Edith Barretto Parsons was a pupil at the Art Students League of New York under Daniel Chester French, J. Twachtmann and George Grey Bernard. She lived and worked in New York, where she died in 1956. She was a member of the National Sculpture Society and the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. Her work "Duck Girl" is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was commissioned for numerous important public works including a memorial fountain to John Galloway (Public Park, Memphis, TN), the pediment figures for the main entrance of the Liberal Arts Building of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis, MO 1904), a memorial monument (Cemetery, St. Paul, Minn) and a monument to "Soldiers of World War" (Summit, NJ). Much of her work was cast by Gorham Founders in New York, including a series of several terriers and other dogs, The Baby Goat, Baby Pan, The Big Duck and others.
Literature & Further Reading:
- Art Bronzes, Michael Forrest
- E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Vol. X, Gründ, 2006, p. 941
- Bronzes: Sculptors and Founders 1800-1930, Vol. IV, Berman, p. 947 [several studies of dogs at play]
- Contemporary American Sculpture, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1929, p. 247
- Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, Opitz, p. 714-15
- The Dictionary of Western Sculptors in Bronze, Mackay, p. 288
- Dictionary of American Sculptors, 18th Century to Present, 1984, Opitz, p. 306
Measurements: 7 3/4" W x 5 7/8" H x 2 3/4" D
Condition Report:
Fine condition with original patina; no observed flaws.