Group of Bears

Copied Paul Manship, Group of Bears, 1939, bronze, 33 x 27 1⁄2 x 19 1⁄2 in. (83.8 x 69.8 x 49.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1963.14.1

Artwork Details

Title
Group of Bears
Artist
Date
1939
Location
Dimensions
33 x 27 1⁄2 x 19 1⁄2 in. (83.8 x 69.8 x 49.5 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Mediums
Mediums Description
bronze
Classifications
Subjects
  • Animal — bear
Object Number
1963.14.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1963.14.1

Artwork Description

In 1926, Paul Manship was commissioned to build the Paul J. Rainey Memorial Gateway at the Bronx Zoo. The double gates stand over thirty-four feet high and forty-two feet wide, cost $250,000 to create, and took almost fifteen years to complete. Above the left gate, Manship modeled three bears. When the gates were complete, he issued independent casts of this assemblage to recoup some of the gateway’s enormous costs. Group of Bears is one of these casts and is less than half the size of the original. Manship maintained the poses of the animals but adjusted them from a profile to a frontal composition. This perspective makes the bears look more like a triple portrait than three individual animals. In fact, the artist modeled all three animals from careful life study of one of the zoo’s bears. Manship did not give them much detail or surface decoration because the sculptures were originally made to stand over twenty feet above the viewer.