WOMAN IN ART
work is on view with her name attached, the gallery guest halts—the statue or its diminutive is eminently worth studying.
As to size, subject, harmony, truth and technique, the biggest thing Miss Hyatt has done is the equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, which stands at a commanding view on Riverside Drive at Ninety-Third Street, New York City. It was made for the open, and the environment enhances the strength and dignity of the Maid of Orleans at command, done in the spirit and understanding of its creator. It is an exemplification of the fact that "it takes a woman to understand a woman," even the inspirations of a peasant girl of a far-away country and century, a far-removed condition and necessity of a people and their homes.
Who that has seen that dignified statue by Miss Hyatt, has not thought of the stupendous mental and physical work involved in the making of that serene and finished monument to art and the artist, no less than to the Maid of Orleans? The artist is serene and direct in her work, regardless of the labor entailed. To construct the frame for the heroic group, and to use for the first essay some three tons of clay, was no easy task for a woman; and to this was added the years of study for the accessories, such as armour, trappings for the horse, et cetera. A huge work, but it was a success.
Animal life has been a special study with Miss Hyatt, hence her spirited horse was from the life. A replica of the statue was in the Paris Salon and received honorable mention; it was said that had the jury known it was the work of a woman they would have given it the first prize, so remarkable is its strength and spirited handling. "Never was great art a side show, or an aftermath. It dominates or dies," has been truly said.
From viewing such a masterpiece one naturally thinks back to the girlhood of such an artist. Anna Vaughn Hyatt was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 10, 1876, the daughter of Alpheus and Audella Beebe Hyatt. She was educated in her native town at a private school. At the age of sixteen she was a pupil at the Art Students' League, New York; she studied under Herman A. MacNeil, with Gutzon Borglum and with Rodin in Paris. In 1917 Miss Hyatt was awarded the Auguste Rodin medal for sculpture. Not many of her works are monumental. A memorial is in Lancaster, New Hampshire, also one in Dayton, Ohio. Smaller statues are in the Metropolitan, Carnegie, Cleveland, Edinburgh and other museums. Miss Hyatt has a Joan of Arc in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and in Blois, France, on which
231
