Young Diana
Artist
Janet Scudder
(American, 1869-1940)
Date1911
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 27 in. (68.6 cm)
ClassificationsAmerican art
Credit LineBequest of Sally Walke Chipley
Object number52.50.1
Terms
- Diana
- Bronze
- Paris, France
On View
Not on viewLabel TextJanet Scudder American/French (1869-1940) Young Diana, 1911 Bronze Bequest of Sally Walke Chipley 52.50.1 Janet Scudder's svelte and perfectly poised sculpture typifies her interest in the youthful female nude. Inspired by the myth of Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt, Scudder first conceived of the statue as a monumental fountain figure holding a large bow in her outstretched hand, as though she had just shot an arrow. She exhibited the figure at the 1911 Paris Salon, where it won an honorable mention. Numerous commissions for smaller bronze replicas like the Chrysler's work followed. Scudder would make her career with such light-hearted garden sculptures, which dotted the country estates of wealthy Americans at the dawn of the twentieth century. Scudder began her career in Chicago as one of the sculptural "White Rabbits" and completed her training at the Académie Colarossi in Paris. She emerged from this period an ardent feminist and suffragette who criticized the common practice of separate exhibitions for male and female artists.
