Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
S.1980.005 |
Object Name |
Sculpture |
Description |
"Time and the Fates of Man" by Paul Howard Manship (1885-1966) "Paul Manship stretched the bridge between the academic tradition and the more radical forms of modernism by accommodating the modern taste for elegance and streamlining in his work. His two favorite devices in sculpture - symbolism and time - are presented in this work. The three Greek Fates, who determined the destiny of mankind, are depicted within a composition anchored by the Tree of Life. In the front, posed like a ship's figurehead, is Clotho, the youngest of the Fates who presided at the moment of birth and spun the thread of life. Clotho holds in her hand a distaff and the thread runs through her fingers toward the second figure, Lachesis. She stands solidly with both arms extended, holding the thread in each hand and measuring it as it passes through her fingers. Depicted as a woman in her prime, her job was to determine the direction of life. The thread travels on behind her to the third figure, Atropos. Shown as an old woman with shears, hunched over and wearing a heavy hood, she cut the thread of life at death. The Tree of Life symbolically spreads it branches over the three women - leafy (life) over Clotho and Lachesis, and bare (death) over Atropos. Another harbringer of death is the raven perched on a barren branch over the head of Atropos. Manship used a series of stylized lines to represent the four elements. On the base below the tree are symbols of earth, water, and fire. Along the gnomon are wavy lines representing air. An enlargement of this sculpture, the monumental centerpiece of the 1939 New York World's Fair, was exhibited in Constitution Mall in front of the Trylon and Perisphere. Also titled 'Time, The Fates, and the Thread of Life', it stood with four accompanying fountains depicting 'The Moods of Time'. With a gnomon 80 feet in length, it was considered the largest sundial in the world. Paul Manship was one of four sculptors commissioned to design major works by the Worlds Fair Commission. The preliminary studies were done in New York in 1938 then shipped to Paris to be enlarged. All of the monumental figures, exhibited in staff (a plaster compound), were later destroyed. This unique bronze example was cast in 1952 in Italy from one of the models. For many years, along with four bronze castings of 'The Moods of Time', it was an attraction in the gardens at Sterling Forest, a planned community in Tuxedo, New York. The sculpture had been acquired by Sterling Forest directly from Manship. On December 4, 1980, the sundial was purchased by Brookgreen Gardens at Sotheby's in New York. Manship gave the following description of the work: 'The gnomon casts its shadow on the platform dial surrounding it and registers sun-time. The gnomon is upheld by the Tree of Life, which grows out of a rocky, insular base. THE THREE FATES - Clotho, the Future, holds the distaff and is the motif of the forward curve; Lachesis, the Present, is vertical and looking ahead, and is measuring the thread as it passes through her hands; Atropos, the Past, the curved line which returns within itself, symbolizes the end of things as she cuts the thread. Over her head the branches of the Tree of Life have lost their foliage, and the Raven - the Bird of Doom - sits watching her.'" ("Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture Volume II", Robin R. Salmon, 1993, p.67-69) |
Date |
1939 (plaster) 1952 (cast) |
Artist |
Manship, Paul Howard |
Dimensions |
H-140 W-68 L-130 inches |
Collection |
Art Objects |
Signed Name |
Paul Manship Sculp 1939 |
Medium |
Metal |
Material |
Bronze |
Technique |
Cast |
Current Location |
Arboretum |