Dancer and Gazelles (1916): Art, History and Details

Dancer and Gazelles (1916) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Paul Manship (American, 1885–1966).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

One of Manship’s most popular compositions, this work established his reputation as an important up-and-coming sculptor. Here, his mastery of elegant silhouette is manifest through the gracefully posed dancer and her sleek animal companions. Stylized decorative patterning embellishes the dancer’s hair and swaying skirt.

Object facts

• Title: Dancer and Gazelles
• Date: 1916
• Creator attribution: Paul Manship (American, 1885–1966)
• Culture: America
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 82 x 82.6 cm (32 5/16 x 32 1/2 in.)
• Collection: American - Sculpture
• Department: American Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1917.1079

A detail from the museum

Initially interested in painting, Manship opted to pursue sculpture after discovering he had color vision deficiency.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Solender, Katherine. The American Way in Sculpture, 1890-1930. Cleveland, OH: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.
• "Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 2 (1917): 26-37.
• W. M. M. "Contemporary American Bronzes." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 6, no. 10 (1919): 151-63.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.