Date: Fri 31-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Anna-Hyatt-Huntington

Full Text:

A Sculptor Long Before Her Time: Searching For Huntington

(with cuts)

DANBURY -- In 1973 the world lost a sculptress, but she did not fail to etch

her memory on the world, particularly in the Danbury area. Anna Hyatt

Huntington enriched area institutions with gifts of her artwork, much of it

all over the world.

The Danbury Museum & Historical Society, whose home at 43 Main Street in

Danbury was donated by Ms Huntington, is honoring her life and work with a

special summer exhibit and "trail" for those who wish to locate and enjoy some

of the artist's sculptures in their natural settings.

"In October, we will be commemorating the 25th anniversary of her death," said

Mary Ann Root, executive director of the Danbury Museum & Historical Society.

"This just seemed like the most fitting tribute to her, introducing or

re-introducing the public to her works that are in the area." The society has

developed "Hunt For The Huntingtons," a two-part exhibition honoring Anna

Huntington's talent and lasting imprint on the area.

The exhibition starts at the museum, where many of Ms Huntington's works

depicting famous moments in local history, animals or mythic representations

of deeper sentiments are on display. Then a map outlining a trail of her work

on public display in Danbury, Redding and Bethel is available. The program

continues through Labor Day.

"The trail will always be there -- it will be there after the exhibit is long

gone," Ms Root said. "What we hope the exhibit will do is give people a

starting point for her work and her life, and after they become familiar, then

they can go out in the field and study the figures on the trail. And if they

see something of hers in the future, they'll be able to recognize it."

The trail includes "Sybil Luddington" at the Danbury Public Library, and a

young Abraham Lincoln in "The Prairie Years" at the Bethel Public Library.

"Howling Wolves" and "The Mother Bear with Her Cubs" guard the entrance gates

at Huntington State Park off Sunset Hill Road in Redding.

Visitors can see "Escape at Horseneck," representing General Putnam's daring

escape from the British in Greenwich, which stands at the main entrance to

Putnam Park. The piece was Huntington's last monumental size sculpture; the

artist created the piece when she was 91.

"Essentially, the trail is really an easy experience because you can do it at

your own pace, take a picnic lunch, and there's no admission," Ms Root said.

"You can do this with small children and all the statues are accessible to the

public at all times." The eight locations on the suggested trail are each

within ten minutes of the museum.

Back at the museum, visitors can examine many of the identical pieces on the

trail -- all of which are in bronze -- cast in aluminum. Among these are the

"Torch Group," which lives in front of the Mark Twain Library in Redding, and

the "Fighting Stallions," which are almost life-size in front of Redding

Elementary School.

The exhibit harbors many discoveries: among them a video tour from Brookgreen

Gardens, a sculpture garden that she and her husband founded in South

Carolina. There will also be a mock-sculpture studio, similar to the one

Huntington herself may have worked in. Visitors can get a peek at how

sculptures are created with literature from a local pouring foundry in New

York State.

Huntington spent the longest part of her life living in her home and studio,

the 1,000-acre Stanerigg Farm in Redding Ridge. Huntington State Park is on

the grounds of this former working farm.

Huntington began sculpting in Boston where she first studied with Henry H.

Kitson. She attended private schools in Cambridge and then went on to the Art

Students League in New York.

Her works are displayed all over the world. Some of her most famous include

"Jeanne d'Arc," in Blois, France; "Abraham Lincoln," in Salzburg, Austria;

"Diana of the Chase," in Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan; and "El Cid," in Seville,

Spain. Her sculptures are in such prestigious places as the American Academy

of Arts and Letters and the Cathedral of St John the Divine, both in New York;

Carnegie Institute of Fine Arts in Pittsburgh, Penn.; the Rhode Island School

of Design in Providence, R.I.; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"Her work is profoundly beautiful and engaging," said Richard Klein, the

assistant director of the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield.

"She was ahead of her time in terms of being a female artist. She created a

major body of work at a time before female artists were appreciated, certainly

in this country."

Two of her pieces which belong to the San Francisco Museum, "Fawns Playing"

and "Greyhounds Playing," were modeled in 1936 and were cast in aluminum -- a

medium Huntington was among the first to explore, according to Dagmar Grimm, a

writer for Sculpture Review .

"Similar in scale and concept, the individual works demonstrate the sculptor's

keen insight and attention to detail," Grimm wrote in a recent article. "Both

groups are tightly rendered. Tension and control, energy and spirit

characterize the compact, contracted fawns, which are more restrained than the

unchecked, exuberant greyhounds." Anna Huntington is considered one of the

premiere animalists in the United States.

Danbury Museum & Historical Society is open Wednesday through Friday, 2-5 pm;

and Saturday and Sunday, 2-4 pm. The museum, at 43 Main Street, can be reached

by calling 800/841-4488.