Explore the History of this artwork, Prometheus (Manship).
Manship's early passion for Ancient Greece's mythological heroes, most notably Heracles, can be attributed to his apprenticeships of two Danish-American brothers — Gutzon and Solon Borglum — and later to Isidore Konti. It was these masters who taught Manship the classical "archaic Greek figurative sculpture which is so much more abstract than Hellenistic or Roman art, and particularly impressed Manship," according to Harry Rand.
Throughout his travels to Italy and Greece during the early 1900s, Manship's drawings from that time period illustrate how he was inspired with "archaic Greek" fundamentals. He was the "first American sculptor to exalt such principles over the classical art of Phidias and Polykleitos." Manship was transfixed by the archaic style and simplicity as seen in the Artemision Bronze, a statue of either Zeus or Poseidon, on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. Manship's "Spear Thrower" and  his "Atalanta," exhibit these same graceful, sublime curves, as seen in the Artemision Bronze.When he was notified by the Rockefeller Center architects that he was chosen over countless others, he wasn't surprised. It was a moment Manship had prepared himself for all his life. According to Rand, "the Rockefeller Center architects knew that he alone was the only sculptor that they could count on." What had been marvelous in his "archaic" apprenticeships became magical in his Prometheus.
Prometheus archaic Greek figurative sculpture National Archaeological Museum Roman art Danish-American Rockefeller Center Zeus Poseidon Bronze Phidias Ancient Greece Heracles Polykleitos Hellenistic Italy Ancient Greece's Athens, Greece Solon Borglum Artemision Bronze Athens Gutzon Greece Isidore Konti