Three Unique Bronze Centerpieces by

Maude Jewett and Harriet Frishmuth

Maude Sherwood Jewett (American, 1875-1953)

Flower Holder, 1924

Bronze, dark green on green patina

10 7⁄8 H. x 12 1⁄4 W. x 6 3⁄4 D. inches

Signed on base: Maude S. Jewett

Stamped on base: Cire Perdue / Siot (Paris, France)

Maude Sherwood Jewett was born in Englewood, New Jersey, and studied in Manhattan at the Art Students League under Harriet Whitney Frishmuth. Both student and teacher created a number of sundials and fountains. Jewett is also known for the Soldiers and Sailors War Memorial in East Hampton, Long Island, New York, and a fountain group at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio.

Her Flower Holder, sculpted in 1924, has been described as having Art Deco characteristics in the slickness of surface, smoothness of idealized forms, and somewhat exaggerated, stylized poses of two standing, tip-toe nudes holding each other's wrists, leaning away from each other as far as possible to create space between them for flowers or other vertical items. These characteristics show the influence of the sculptor’s teacher Frishmuth, whose work is also known for lithe, slender dancers.

Jewett had a studio in Long Island and was a charter member of Guild Hall in East Hampton. She served as the first Art Committee chairman and organized a highly-acclaimed exhibition dedicated to The Tile Club and their followers in East Hampton, a group that included Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, John Henry Twachtman, Elihu Vedder, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Stanford White.

Maude Jewett, c. 1934

Harriet Frishmuth, c. 1920s

Jewett, like Frishmuth, was a member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, as well as of the American Federation of Arts and American Artists Professional League. She exhibited at the National Sculpture Society in 1923 with a fountain figure titled The Young Sun-Worshipper.