Her first commissioned piece was a bas-relief for the New York County Medical Society in 1910. She also modeled ashtrays, bookends, and small figures for the Gorham Manufacturing Company. Her career grew steadily, and she became well known for her beautiful renderings of females in bronze, particularly dancers (Desha Delteil frequently modeled for her). Her small bronzes were sought by private collectors and museums alike, and her large bronzes often were placed in elaborate garden settings or as the centerpieces of fountains.[3] She also taught; among her pupils were Maude Sherwood Jewett[4] and Eleanor Mary Mellon.[5]
Frishmuth scorned modern art and was quite outspoken on the subject, calling it "spiritless" (she was equally outspoken in her dislike of the word "sculptress"). She received a number of recognitions and honors over the course of her career: the St. Gaudens Medal from the Art Students League of New York (while still a student), several awards from the National Academy of Design, a prize from the Grand Central Art Galleries, an honorable mention from the Golden Gate International Exposition, and the Joan of Arc Silver Medal from the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. She was elected into the National Academy of Design in 1925 as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1929. Her work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.[7]
While Frishmuth was not open about her sexuality in press interviews of the day, archival records document that she was a lesbian, her partner Ruth Talcott having lived with her from the 1940s until Frishmuth’s death in 1980.[10]
Selected worksedit
Joy of the Waters (1920), Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan.[11] Represented in first Woman's World's Fair of 1925.[12]
Aspiration (1933), Berwind Tomb, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[21] A larger version of the 1926 bronze statue, carved from a single block of granite.
^"HARRIET WHITNEY FRISHMUTH Biography". Artist Art Brokerage. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
^"Aristos.org - Recommended Links". Retrieved January 29, 2017.
^"Small Bronzes by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880 - 1980)". Retrieved January 29, 2017.
^Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein (1990). American women sculptors: a history of women working in three dimensions. G.K. Hall. ISBN 978-0-8161-8732-4.
^Jules Heller; Nancy G. Heller (December 19, 2013). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-63882-5.
^"Harriet Frismuth" Archived 2017-09-03 at the Wayback Machine on the Fine Old Art website
^"Harriet Whitney Frishmuth". Olympedia. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
^"Harriet Whitney Frishmuth Papers An inventory of her papers at Syracuse University". Retrieved January 29, 2017.
^Thayer Tolles, ‘“Art as the true expression of life”: Harriet Whitney Frishmuth to 1940’, in Janis Conner et al., Captured Motion: The Sculpture of Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, Hohmann Holdings LLC, New York, 2006, p. 28.
^"Joy of the Waters, (sculpture)". SIRIS. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
^Gerdts, Abigail Booth (1989). An American Collection: Paintings and Sculpture from the National Academy of Design. The Academy.
^"The Vine, (sculpture)". Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
^"Call of the Sea, (sculpture)". SIRIS. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
^"Farmington Community Library Works of Art". Archived from the original on May 19, 2012.
^"Roses of Yesterday, (sculpture)". SIRIS. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
^"The Crest of the Wave, (sculpture)". Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
^"Harriet Whitney Frishmuth's Sculpture Scherzo Helps Beautify Bracken Library and Expose Thousands of Students Daily to Fine Art". Ball State University. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
^"(Scherzo), (sculpture)". Save Outdoor Sculpture, Indiana survey. 1992. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
^"Aspiration, (sculpture)". SIRIS. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
photograph of Desha Deltiel posing for "The Vine" Archived 2006-12-08 at the Wayback Machine (George Eastman House collections)
Heritage Auction Prices Realized Archive (with photos and descriptions) for Harriet Frishmuth sculpture sold since October 2004
Finding Aid to Harriet Whitney Frishmuth Papers, 1924-1977 at Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY