Scale model for Man Controlling Trade

Copied Michael Lantz, Scale model for Man Controlling Trade, 1937, plaster, 19 1⁄2 x 18 5⁄8 x 9 5⁄8 in. (49.6 x 47.4 x 24.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1982.100

Artwork Details

Title
Scale model for Man Controlling Trade
Artist
Date
1937
Location
Dimensions
19 1⁄2 x 18 5⁄8 x 9 5⁄8 in. (49.6 x 47.4 x 24.5 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Mediums
Mediums Description
plaster
Classifications
Keywords
  • Animal — horse
  • Figure male — full length
  • Study — sculpture model
  • Allegory — other — trade
Object Number
1982.100
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1982.100

Artwork Description

In 1938, Michael Lantz won the competition to design two sculptures for the Apex Building, home of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. The widely publicized “Apex Competition” was the largest American sculpture competition ever held, receiving almost five hundred models from more than two hundred artists. Lantz submitted small models of his designs, each showing a heroic figure straining to control a powerful horse. The final, seventeen-foot-long statues were completed in 1942 and installed outside the eastern entrance of the Federal Trade Commission building, where they can be seen today.