Flight of Night

Artist Paul Manship (American, 1885-1966)

Date1916

DimensionsIncluding base: 37 1/4 × 28 15/16 × 10 9/16 in. (94.6 × 73.5 × 26.8 cm)
H (Without base): 27 13/16 in. (70.6 cm)

MediumBronze.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of Florence Scott Libbey

Object number

1925.1024

On View

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2444 Monroe Street), Glass Pavilion Gallery, 5

Label TextIn 1917, the art critic Paul Gallatin, an ardent supporter of Paul Manship, published a book on Manship's work. In Paul Manship: A Critical Essay on his Sculptures and on Iconography, Gallatin states that among Manship's inspirations was the sculptural work of India. " The lessons the artist has learned from Indian art, particularily from Hindu and Buddhist sculpture, one perceives in such examples as...The Flight of Night." In Flight of Night, the influence of Indian art is evident in the careful attention to decorative detail, the pose of a figure moving through space, and, most importantly, the emphasis on silhouette and purity of outline. In this sculpture one sees the significance that the artist attaches to gesture. Paul Manship conceived Flight of Night in 1916 and sculpted it in two sizes. The larger version, like the one displayed here, was cast in an edition of six.Published ReferencesMurtha, Edwin, Paul Manship, New York, MacMillan, 1957, p. 158, no. 81.

Wilson, Malin, "Paul Manship: The Flight of Night," Toledo Museum News, New Series, vol. 17, no. 3, 1974, pp. 59-61, repr. p. 60.

Conner, Janis and Joel Rosenkranz, Rediscoveries in American Sculpture, Austin, 1989, p. 142.

An American Gallery, vol. VI, New York, Richard York Gallery, 1990, no. 23, repr.

Menconi, Susan E., Uncommon Spirit: Sculpture in America 1800-1940, New York, 1989, p. 78 (SC Hirschl & Adler).

Exhibition HistoryNew York, National Academy of Design, A Century and a Half of American Art, 1975, p. 145, repr. p. 144.

Minneapolis institute of Arts; Saint Louis Art Museum; Toledo Museum of Art; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, Made in America: Ten Centuries of American Art, 1995-1996, p. 139, repr. (col.).

Comparative ReferencesSee also Rand, Harry, Paul Manship, Washington, 1989, p. 165, fig. 112. Cf. Rather, Susan, Archaism, Modernism and the Art of Paul Manship, Austin, TX, 1993, p. 159.