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Artist or Maker: Paul Manship (1885-1966)
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Provenance: James and Margaret Smith, Louisville, Kentucky.
By descent to the present owners.
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Exhibited: Louisville, Kentucky, J.B. Speed Art Museum, The James and Margaret Smith Collection, March 2-28, 1971, no. 47.
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Literature: E. Murtha, Paul Manship, New York, 1957, pp. 14, 15, 153, 158, no. 80, fig. 2, another example illustrated.
J.B. Speed Art Museum, The James and Margaret Smith Collection, exhibition catalogue, Louisville, Kentucky, 1971, no. 47.
Minnesota Museum of Art, Paul Manship: Changing Taste in America, St. Louis, Missouri, 1985, p. 71, another example illustrated.
J. Connor, J. Rosenkranz, Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works 1893-1939, Austin, Texas, 1989, p. 135.
H. Rand, Paul Manship, Washington, D.C., 1989, pp. 117, 118, 165, another example illustrated.
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Notes: Property of a SOUTHERN COLLECTION
Gloria Kittleson writes: "Often considered one of Manship's most elegant works, and an early expression of his mature style, Flight of Night evokes classical Greek and East Indian sources. The allegorical figure of night floats in space over the universe, suggesting ubiquity, and her upraised arms round her head echo the globe over which she hovers. Her clearly delineated form suggests the crescent shape of the moon; the crescent moon was the ancient attribute of the virgin. Flight looks back over her shoulder, while her body moves forward with speed to make way for the oncoming day; her form is weighted toward the left, heightening the sense of movement." (Paul Manship: Changing Taste in America, exhibition catalogue, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1985, p. 71)
According to Edwin Murtha, the present example was cast in an edition of twenty. Other examples of the scultpure are in the collections of The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut.
