Paul Manship

1885 - 1966

Paul Manship began his training at the Art Students League in New York, and went on to study with Charles Grafly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1909, Manship won the Prix de Rome allowing his to study in Italy. When he returned home he exhibited ten sculptures he had made during his studies abroad, which quickly gained him important commissions for architectural sculpture and monuments.

Paul Manship first came to Cape Ann to study with Grafly. In 1940 he returned for a few weeks with his family. The Manships found numerous friends including Walker Hancock and George Demetrios, both sculptors whom Manship had gotten to know while studying with Grafly. After renting a cottage for several summers, Manship purchased 14 acres of vacant quarry land in 1943.  He then proceeded to move buildings from all over the Cape to the property.

Paul Manship's work became enormously popular during the 1930s. His ornate stylization of the traditional forms of archaic and classical Greek and East Indian sculpture were perfectly suited to the Art Deco style of the period. His most famous commission was the Prometheus fountain for Rockefeller Center in 1934.