Renee Prahar
Renée Prahar (c. 1879 — August 17, 1962) also known as Irene Prahar, was an American sculptor and actress based in New York City and later in Connecticut.
Early life[edit]
Irene Prahar was born in New York, of Bohemian ancestry.[1] She studied sculpture in Paris at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, working with Auguste Rodin and Antoine Bourdelle. While in Paris, she showed work at the Salon of the Société National des Beaux-Arts in 1911[2] and again in 1914.[3]
Career[edit]
Prahar began working as a stage actress, in the company of actor Richard Mansfield.[4] She appeared with Mansfield in Old Heidelberg (1903-1904),[5] The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1905),[6] The Merchant of Venice (1906),[7] The Scarlet Letter (1906),[8] and Peer Gynt (1906).[9]
As a sculptor, Prahar created portrait busts[10] and human or animal figures, usually angular and stylized, in a method she called "Triangularism".[11] In 1922, she was hired to create monkey sculptures and architectural features to adorn the terrace of Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt.[12] Her "Fox Gate Posts" were featured in the 1931 opening of the American Women's Association's permanent gallery in 1931.[13] She also designed a medal for the American Women's Association, given as an award to distinguished women of the New York area.[14] The medal's first recipient in 1931 was Margaret Sanger.[15]
Critic Henry McBride called Prahar "a pioneer in the fantastic and the grotesque."[16] In the same year, the New York Times critic commented on Prahar's "remarkably cool intellectuality".[17]
In 1930 she wrote in protest of fellow sculptor George Grey Barnard's eviction from his studio space.[18] Later in her career, she designed and decorated homes in Connecticut, with George's daughter, Colette Barnard.[19]
Personal life[edit]
Renee Prahar died in 1962, aged 83 years, in New London, Connecticut.[19]
A small collection of Prahar's papers are in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art.[20]
References[edit]
- ^ Marian Hale, "Need Sculpture in Your Home" The Richmond Item (October 29, 1922): 7. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Few Novel Exhibits in Junior Salon" New York Times (April 15, 1911): 3.
- ^ "Many American Works at Salon" New York Times (April 12, 1914): C2.
- ^ "Actress Will Get Her Jewels" The Sun (March 27, 1906): 12. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Show Waits on Mansfield" New York Times (March 15, 1904): 9.
- ^ "Mr. Mansfield as Ivan" New York Times (March 23, 1905): 9.
- ^ "Mr. Mansfield as Shylock" Baltimore Sun (January 11, 1906): 12. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Burns Mantle, "The Scarlet Letter" Inter Ocean (May 9, 1906): 6. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Peer Gynt in English Put on by Mansfield" New York Times (October 30, 1906): 9.
- ^ "Actress Sculptor's Success" The Times-Democrat (July 2, 1911): 35. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Suffragist Sculptress Strikes a New Note" The Woman Citizen (October 13, 1917): 376.
- ^ "Monkeys Adorn Terrace" New York Times (February 9, 1922): 15.
- ^ Edward Alden Jewell, "Woman's Gallery Opens Today" New York Times (July 1, 1931): 30.
- ^ "Most Distinguished Woman of City Area to Get Medal" New York Times (November 8, 1931): N1.
- ^ "Mrs. Sanger Named for Women's Prize" New York Times (November 10, 1931): 24.
- ^ "Sculptural Fantasies to Lift After-War Gloom" Literary Digest (February 18, 1922): 28.
- ^ "Sculptures by Renee Prahar" New York Times (February 5, 1922): 48.
- ^ "Protests Grow Over Barnard Studio Eviction" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (November 19, 1930): 19. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b "Renee Prahar, 83, Sculptor, is Dead" New York Times (August 19, 1962): 88.
- ^ Renee Prahar Papers, 1912-1938, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
