The "Bird Girl": The Story of a Sculpture by Sylvia Shaw Judson 0764323709, 9780764323706

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STORY OF A SCULPTURE

BY SYLVIA SHAW

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L. UNDERWOOD

About the Author Sandra L. Underwood, a native of Missouri and Kansas, has degrees in art history from the University of Kansas (B.A. and M.A.) and Indiana University (Ph.D.). For thirty years, she and her husband, John, lived on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay and worked at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where she was Professor of Art History and he was Executive Vice President for Administration. They retired to Savannah, Georgia, looking for someplace filled with history, art, beautiful architecture, sunshine, and nearby ocean breezes. In Savannah, they found all of these, and very good neighbors. Professor Underwood was trained in the specialty of how styles of modern art were received by critics in the early twentieth century; but, over thirty years at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, she taught courses in many art traditions, including ancient, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, modern, tribal, and conceptual. Her primary interest continues to be why some art gains the attention and the affection of a wide public-and why some does not. She met the “Bird Girl” at the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah and es to wonder what accounted for the fame of this sculpture.

The “Bird Girl” The Story ofa Sculpture by Sylvia Shaw Judson

Sandra L. Underwood

4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310 USA

Published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 4880 Lower Valley Road Atglen, PA 19310 Phone: (610) 593-1777; Fax: (610) 593-2002 E-mail: [email protected] For the largest selection of fine reference books on this and related subjects, please visit our web site at www.schifferbooks.com We are always looking for people to write books on new and related subjects. If you have an idea for a book please contact us at the above address. This book may be purchased from the publisher.

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In Europe, Schiffer books are distributed by Bushwood Books 6 Marksbury Ave. Kew Gardens Surrey TW9 4JF England Phone: 44 (0) 20 8392-8585; Fax: 44 (0) 20 8392-9876 E-mail: [email protected] Free postage in the U.K., Europe; air mail at cost. Front Cover. “Bird Girl” (1936, bronze), front view. Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia.

Sculpture on Joan by the Descendants of Lucy Boyd Trosdal. Back Cover. “Bird Girl” (1936, bronze), back view. Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia. Sculpture on loan by the Descendants of Lucy Boyd Trosdal.

Copyright © 2006 by Sandra L. Underwood Library of Congress Control Number: 2005932165 All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means— graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying or information storage and retrieval systems—without written permission from the publisher. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book or any part thereof via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. "Schiffer," "Schiffer Publishing Ltd. & Design," and the "Design of pen and ink well" are registered trademarks of Schiffer Publishing Ltd. Designed by Mark David Bowyer

Type set in Bodoni Bd BT / Souvenir Lt BT

ISBN: 0-7643-2370-9 Printed in China

Dedication

To John, with whom | share a life filled with adventures. To Judy, who suggested this one.

Contents

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