Paul Manship (American, 1885 - 1966)
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Paul Manship became a leading influence in sculpture from the 1920s to the end of World War II. His work was distinguished by their simplified and polychromatic forms, clean sinuous lines, slender curves, and lyrical surfaces. His subjects often hearkened back to ancient or classical themes and his style, emphasizing simple lines, combined Greek and Oriental influences as well as Art Deco that was so popular in the 1920s and 1930s.
Officially titled Young Minerva, this sculpture is often titled Marietta after the model who posed for it. In 1911, Manship was immersed in three years of study at the American Academy in Rome, having been awarded the American Prix de Rome in 1909. He returned to New York in the fall of 1912.
In February of 1913, the American Academy in Rome presented an exhibition of works by Manship and two other Fellows at The Architectural League in New York, where Manship showed ten pieces created in Rome, including Young Minerva, to critical acclaim.
Manship often used a flying figure to symbolize the passage of time. The woman in Flight of Night is thought to be Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt and moon, who was chased from the sky every morning by her twin brother, Apollo.