Male Écorché Sculptures by Brenda Putnam, c. 1939

'The Big Duck,' a captivating bronze sculpture by Edith Barretto Parsons, is a masterpiece of artistry and emotion. Created in 1920, this sculpture beautifully captures the innocence and unbridled joy of childhood. In this enchanting piece, a toddler cradles a large duck against their chest, the bird's wings outstretched in a playful dance while its feet kick with exuberance. The child's expression is a priceless reflection of pure delight. Parsons, a talented American sculptor born in 1878, studied at the Art Students League of New York under renowned sculptors like Daniel Chester French...

This 19th-century English life-size gilt bronze sculpture delicately captures the poignant beauty of a dead finch, meticulously crafted with intricate detail. In Victorian England, d...

In an era when artists were capturing the exoticism and athleticism of modern dancers, such as Richmond Barthé's depiction of Féral Benga dancing with a large, curved sword or Paul Colin's drawings of Josephine Baker with her skirt of bananas, this sensuous presentation of a nude male dancer with a long spear stands out. The bronze was sculpted in 1926 by Brenda Putnam, who is best known for a series of bronzes showing children at play, often placed in gardens and parks. However, Putnam was ambitious to do more, leaving academic sculpture behind as she collaborated with architect Paul Philippe Cret to create the Puck Fountain for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., executed a number of portraits in bronze, exhibited at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, and created "The Crest" -- consisting of a a large male nude swimming...

This highly rare bronze of a nude male athlete preparing to left a heavy kettlebell weight was sculpted by an Austrian artist, Franz Seifert, in 1922. Although Seifert is known for his nude figures straining to accomplish physical tasks -- such as carrying a large bucket or splitting a stone -- this sculpture is the only example known to exist. A decade after this sculpture was cast, Seifert carved a marble portrait of Siegfried Marcus, inventor of the gasoline-powered car, for a monument in Vienna, which includes a nude male figure in bas relief racing forward on the upper edge of an automobile wheel. He also created a large sculpture grouping honoring Empress Elizabeth...