American Bronze Sculpture Fountain “Baby Duck”, Edith Barretto Parsons, 41” H

EDITH BARRETTO PARSONS
American, 1878-1956

"Duck Baby"

Verdigris patinated bronze
Signed "E.B. PARSONS" to base
Marked "Roman Bronze Works, N.Y." to edge of base

41" H x 9 1/2" W x 8" D

ref. 511FRP09U

"Duck Baby" was modeled in 1912 and was first released to the public in 1913 during her exhibition at the National Academy of Design in New York (no. 39) as a fountain. The sculpture achieved even greater national visibility at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, where it was exhibited as part of the exposition’s sculpture program and proved highly popular. The following year she exhibited the fountain at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Following the Panama-Pacific Exposition, "Duck Baby" was cast in at two primary configurations: the 41" full height fountain model and the smaller 23" high fountain, as well as a few other smaller dimensions that were not as popular.

The present example was cast by Roman Bronze Works of New York and is a very fine lifetime cast. It features a highly nuanced and complex verdigris, ochre and brown patination that showcases natural outdoor weathering against the original patina. It is a moving image of the sheer joy and wonder of childhood, as this toddler girl picks up two helpless baby ducks and carries them around. Wind blows wildly through her hair and there is a sense of unbound freedom in the work. Parsons did many examples of toddler boys and girls capturing the slower moving creatures, including Turtle Boy, The Big Duck and others. The present example is raised on an integral octagonal plinth decorated with soft bas-relief of ducks around the edges. The mouths of each duck have copper piping that is designed to bring water up from under the base and through their beaks.

For examples of this model at auction, see Christie's, New York, Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, 5 December 2002, lot 106, a 42" high model with a lovely outdoor verdigris that achieved $ 45,410 USD. The following year Sotheby's in New York offered a 42" model cast posthumously (marked EGF), which also featured a natural weathered verdigris patination, achieving $ 51,000 USD. In 2011, Sotheby's offered a smoother version cast by Gorham in 42" that achieved $ 23,750 USD (8 April 2011, lot 114). A 23" high version was offered at Sotheby's, New York 8 March 2007 (lot 117), which achieved $ 20,400.

Condition: A fine heavily weathered patina. Piping under the fountain appears to be complete but has not been pressure tested. Carefully waxed without disturbing the underlying patina. An exquisite presentation: ready to place.

EDITH BARRETTO PARSONS
Born in 1878, Edith Barretto Parsons studied at the Corcoran School of Art before continuing her training in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. She further trained at the Art Students League of New York under Daniel Chester French, J. H. Twachtman, and George Grey Barnard. She established her professional practice in New York and remained active there until her death in 1956.

By 1904 Parsons had secured a major commission for the pediment figures at the main entrance of the Liberal Arts Building for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. She subsequently completed a memorial fountain to John Galloway for a public park in Memphis, Tennessee; a cemetery monument in St. Paul, Minnesota; and a monument to the Soldiers of World War in Summit, New Jersey.

Parsons was elected to membership in the National Sculpture Society and the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. In addition to public commissions, she produced small-scale bronzes for domestic and garden settings. Her best known works include Turtle Boy, Duck Baby, The Baby Goat, Baby Pan, The Big Duck, and her broad dissemination of a large series of terriers and other dogs both as stand-alone sculpture and as bookends.

Much of her bronze production was cast by Gorham Founders and Roman Bronze Works, both of New York.

She died in 1956, thereafter her work being issued posthumously by her estate under the authorization of Edith Gilman French (those sculptures marked EGF and often numbered, many issued in the 1980s).