Crest of the Wave

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth was born in 1880 in Philadelphia and became a student of such renowned sculptors as Auguste Rodin and Gutzon Borglum.  The artist’s reputation and career grew steadily throughout the first several decades of the twentieth century, with exhibitions at the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, the Salon in Paris, the Golden Gate International Exposition (1939-1940), and the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.
 
Her favorite models were dancers, especially Desha Delteil - immortalized in several works by Frishmuth, including this one.  Desha was a model particularly popular with artists for her ability to hold difficult poses for long periods of time.  In this joyous work, Frishmuth conveys her mantra of “art as the true expression of life.” 

The work was originally designed in 1925 as a 21 inch bronze maquette (artistic model), the Crest of the Wave remained one of the artist’s most popular designs and one of her longest casting runs: from 1925 to 1968.  The large version of the statue (66 inches), such as the example on view here, was commissioned originally by patron Frank J. Hogan of Washington, DC, for a fountain.  The fountain was to be piped so as “to have the body played upon by water at all times when the fountain is in use.”