Frishmuth Sculpture at Vassar

vassar today
Mystery Maiden
When a long-lost sculpture unexpectedly returns to Vassar,
the surprise raises as many questions as answers.
ate last summer, a white panel
truck pulled up to rhe load i ng
docks at Vassar's shipping and
receiving bay wirh a del ivery. A
nore accompaoyi og the unexpected shipment sa id it was for rhe occasion of rhe
college's Sesqllicenrennia I. InSide the
truck was a lone sculpture. As ad minis(rators would soon discovcr, it wasn't a
glfr, but rather a rerurn.
The sculpture was "Call of the Sea" by
Harrier Whitney Frishmuth, a sculptor
noted for hcr stunning female bronzes,
many produced jusr prior (0 rhe Grear
Depression. CommiSSioned in 1923, the
bronze, measuring only four feet tall,
had as irs model the diminmive ba Ilerina
Madeleine Parker.
Between 1924 and 1939, fewer than
20 copies were made from the original
mold by a Rhode Islilnd foundry. Only a
handful remain known today, in places
such as New York (the Brooklpl Botanic
G ardensl, Sou th Ca rol i na, I nd ia na,
Ohio, and Oklahoma.
And rhen t here is Vassar's copy, which
Mrs. Charles Higley gave to the college
in 1954, when it was placed 00 Sunset
22
S P R I N G / SUM MEA 20 I 2
Lake. There ir remained, more or less,
for 20 years. Vassar Historia n Elizabeth
Dan iels '41, who has served as a professor
of English, dean of freshman, and dean
of studies during her more thao 60 years
ar the college, reca lis severa I instances of
rhe sell Ipru re remporari Iy disappearing,
rhanks to rhe prank-pulling men of Yale.
Bur the sculptufC always returned. Larer,
ir was presumed ro have been pushed ro
the botrom of rhe shallow lake. Thenmost likely in the late 1970s, when Sunset
La ke was d rained and dredged-the
scu Iprure disappea red without a [face.
\x!hen ~Call of the Sea"-Iong considered lost to the college-inex pi icabl y
rerurned "it was a tr ue su [prise," says
James Mundy '74, the Anne Hendflcks
Bass Director of Vassar's Frances
Lehman Loeb Art Center, noting that the
sculpture's guardian these past decades
remams a mystery.
The scu Iptu re arrived in exce Ilent
condition, with the classic green pat ina
of aged bronte. A pattern of discoloration about 18 inches from the base is
consistent wlrh it haVing been partlally
submerged in water or mud.
During the fall 2011 semester,
Frishmuth's sculprure leEr Vassar again
-hopefull~ for rhe lasr rime-to go (0
New York City, where renowned conserva(Or Steve Tatti resrored rhe SCLI Iptll re
[Q museum srandards. Wirh rhe work
complete, Vassa r gave brief thought ro
placing "Call of rhe Sea" near Sunser La kc.
Ulri marely, rhe SCLI Ipwre fou nd irs new
home in rhe newly renovared Sculpru re
Garden of rhe Art Center. Vassar losr
Frishmurh's sculpture once, Mundy says.
No one wants ro risk losing it again.
The esteem and value of Frishmuth's
work has risen dramaric<1lly in recent
years. "CaJJ of the Sea," in particular, Mundy notes, "is one of the earliest
and most important works by a female
sculptor in Amenca. The scu Ipture is
very much of irs ti me ... from a grea t
age of public sculpture in America.
We're overjoyed that it has come back."
It's a sentiment shared by President
Hill, who says she'd be grateful for any
information about where rhe fountain has
been a IJ these years. "There should be no
fear of retribution," she assured. "We'd
Iust Ii ke ro know." . , 1 Br"" ~,
.
'L>
~
This page, "Call of the Sea" in its original
location, Sunset Lake. Previous page, restored
and installed in Vassar's Sculpture Garden.
VASSAR OUARTERl Y
23
contents
'SPRINGJSUMMER 2012· VOLUMl!: 10a ISSUE: 2· THE ALUMNAE/I QUARfERL'f
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2
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