Bird Girl
32°04′41″N81°05′42″W/ 32.078°N 81.095°W
Bird Girlis a sculpture made in 1936 bySylvia Shaw JudsoninLake Forest, Illinois.It was sculpted atRagdale,her family's summer home, and achieved fame when it was featured on the cover of the 1994 non-fiction novelMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.Originally exhibited asGirl with Bowlsat theArt Institute of Chicagoin 1938, it was also exhibited asFountain Figure,Standing Figure,andPeasant Girl.A 1967 book by Judson first referred to it asBird Girl.[1][2][3]
Description[edit]
Bird Girlis cast inbronzeand stands 50 inches (130 cm) tall. She is the image of a young girl wearing a simple dress and a sad or contemplative expression "...that stands solid and quietly, a strong and simple form", "... a serene spirit that offers us in this troubled age the tranquility we find too seldom".[4]The work was originally commissioned as a garden sculpture for a family inMassachusetts.A slight, eight-year-old model named Lorraine Greenman (now Lorraine Ganz) posed for the piece.[5]
She stands straight with her head tilted toward her left shoulder, her elbows propped against her waist as she holds up two bowls out from her sides. "Bird Girl's pose does not actually symbolize the weighing of good and evil, rather, the bowls in her upturned hands were intended to hold food or water for birds. She was also originally designed to potentially function as a fountain, as indicated by the small holes in the bottom of her bowls and the slots at the front for water to overflow."[6]
The inscription on the pedestal reads: "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. II Corinthians 5:8"
Original casts[edit]
First sculpted in clay, the statue was cast six times, once in lead and five times in bronze, between 1937 and 1940 according to records from the Roman Bronze Works in New York City, but later correspondence from the sculptor mentioned only four casts.[7]Four original bronze casts are currently known: one went to Massachusetts and is now in the Edward L. Ryerson Conservation Area in Riverwoods, IL; one went to a Washington, DC, garden and then to Reading, PA; another was bought by a Lake Forest, IL resident and is still there; and the fourth went to Savannah.[1][3][8]
The most famous version was purchased by a Savannah family who named itLittle Wendyand set it up at the family's plot inBonaventure Cemeterywith the inscribed pedestal. It has since been relocated to theTelfair Academy,where it is on display for museum visitors. Judson donated the original plaster model to theCrow Island SchoolinWinnetka, Illinois.[9]
Book cover[edit]
TheBonaventure Cemeterystatue sat virtually unnoticed until 1993, whenRandom Househired Savannah photographerJack Leighto shoot an image for the cover ofJohn Berendt's new book,Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.At Berendt's suggestion, Leigh searched the Bonaventure Cemetery for a suitable subject. He found the sculpture next to a grave on the Trosdal family plot, at the end of his second day of searching, and had to make the shot quickly as dusk approached. He reportedly spent ten hours in thedarkroomadjusting the lighting, giving the photo a moonlit feel and accentuating the halo around the statue's head.[9][10]
The cover image, titled "Midnight, Bonaventure Cemetery", was an immediate hit, and Berendt called it "one of the strongest book covers I've ever seen". The book, published in 1994, became an all time bestseller, and soon people began flocking to Bonaventure Cemetery to see the sculpture. Due to concern about the amount of traffic at the grave site, the Trosdal family had it removed from the cemetery and later lent it to theTelfair Museumsin Savannah, for public display in theirTelfair Academybuilding. In December 2014, the statue was moved from the Telfair Academy to the Telfair Museums' nearbyJepson Center for the Arts.As of April 2019, she is in a special exhibit at the Telfair Academy.[1]
Additional casts[edit]
In 1995, Judson's daughter Alice Judson Hayes (aka Alice Ryerson Hayes) had an additional bronze statue created from a mold and gave it to theRagdale Foundation,anartist residency programin Lake Forest.[9]Later, an authorizedfiberglassreplica was made from the original plaster model for use byMacy'sin their display windows; it was later moved to Jack Leigh's studio and then to theSavannah History Museum.[11]
Hayes holds the copyright for theBird Girland has actively defended it by filing lawsuits against unauthorized reproductions, especially full-sized replicas. She destroyed the mold that was used to cast the 1995 replica, although the original plaster model still exists. Hayes has licensed smaller-scale replicas, which have sold well. She died on October 13, 2006, passing on the copyright to her daughter, painter Francie Shaw.[9]
Film use[edit]
Warner Bros.produced afilm adaptationof Berendt's book in 1997, directed byClint Eastwoodand featuringKevin SpaceyandJohn Cusack.After purchasing the rights to use the sculpture's likeness from Hayes, the studio created a fiberglass replica. The movie incorporated shots of theBird Girlsculpture on its posters and in the film itself. After the film was completed the replica was sent to theCliff Dwellers Clubin Chicago, Illinois.[12]
Photographer Leigh sued Warner Bros. in November 1997 forcopyright infringementover their shots of theBird Girlreplica in the cemetery, which were similar to Leigh's original cover photograph. The lower court ruled that the Warner sequences with the statue were not infringement, but an appeals court found that the photographs used for promotional purposes, such as posters, bore significant similarities and remanded the matter back to the lower court. Warner and Leigh then settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.[9]
Deaths[edit]
Sylvia Shaw Judson died in 1978. Although she did not see herBird Girlsculpture achieve fame, she was already a renowned sculptor whose pieces have been on display in suchprestigious locationsas theWhite House,theMassachusetts State House,thePhiladelphia Museum of Art,and theWhitney Museum of American Artin New York City.[9][13]
Jack Leigh died of colon cancer on May 19, 2004, and is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery, where he took his most famous photograph.[9]
References[edit]
- ^abcDeLorme, Harry (April 15, 2019)."ON THE TRAIL OF THE BIRD GIRL".telfair.org.RetrievedOctober 11,2016.
- ^Haskins, Sylvia Shaw Judson (1967).For Gardens and Other Places: The Sculpture of Sylvia Shaw Judson.Chicago: H. Regnery Co.
- ^ab"Lot 32 - Sylvia Shaw Judson (American, 1897-1978), Bird Girl".Freeman's.Philadelphia. June 6, 2021.RetrievedNovember 12,2021.
- ^Underwood 2006,p. 138.
- ^Leroux, Charles (August 25, 1999)."Born in Chicago, Raised in Savannah".Chicago Tribune.Tribune Publishing.Archivedfrom the original on May 31, 2015.
- ^Bird Girl(museum display description). Savannah: Telfair Academy. 2021.
- ^Underwood 2006,pp. 88.
- ^The 1999 Leroux article did not mention the lead cast and quoted the sculptor's daughter on the disposition of the four known bronze casts. The Washington/Reading version was sold for $390,000 in 2021. The auction catalog detailed its provenance as the second of the four original casts and also cited the Savannah version as the fourth cast ( freemansauction /auction/lot/32-sylvia-shaw-judson-american-1897-1978/?lot=567061).
- ^abcdefg"The Bird Girl".City of Savannah.
- ^Leigh, Jack (1993)."Midnight, Bonaventure Cemetery".telfair.org.RetrievedNovember 10,2021.
- ^Underwood 2006,pp. 128–129.
- ^Hayes, Alice Ryerson (April 2001)."The True Story of the Bird Girl".On and Off the Cliff.RetrievedNovember 10,2021.
- ^Underwood, Sandra L. (2006).The "Bird Girl": The Story of a Sculpture by Sylvia Shaw Judson.Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing.ISBN978-0764323706.
External links[edit]
- Message board posts with info about Jack Leigh,including details about theBird Girlphoto, his photographic technique, and his lawsuit against Warner Bros.
- The Sydney Morning Herald(June 8, 2004) "Good and Evil image maker dies"