Marshall Fredericks with the full-scale plasteline model for "Lord Byron" (The Poet) in his studio

Marshall Fredericks with the full-scale plasteline model for "Lord Byron" (The Poet) in his studio

Artists' studios--United States.
Byron, George Gordon Byron, baron, 1788-1824.
Figure sculpture, American--20th century.
Fredericks, Marshall M., 1908-1998

According to MaryAnn Wilkinson, former curator of modern and contemporary art at The Detroit Institute of Arts, “His last monumental work, Lord Byron, designed in 1938, enlarged by the artist, and cast posthumously in 1998 for the Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Museum paradoxically seems to refer back to Fredericks's earliest influences. This literary figure clearly inspired by Rodin's Balzac, strikes a shameless dramatic pose: head flung back with his hand on his forehead, heavy cloak partially pulled around his body with the other hand flying out to the side and back. Fredericks, in contrast to the symmetry that generally characterizes his designs, treated each side of the Byron figure in a different manner. Along its right side, the figure is closed and solid. The drop of the heavy cloak does not allow for articulation of forms or even for suggestion of the body beneath. Rather, the artist exploits the long, unbroken line of the cloak from the figure's chin to the ground. In contrast, the figure's left side is open and plastic with elbow and knee flung out at an angle from the nipped-in waist. Like Sun Worshipper, The Poet: Lord Byron represents an important mid-career design that he was only able to realize in large scale at the end of his career.” (Marshall M. Fredericks, Sculptor, p. 15)

Byron was a member of the Romantics Poets movement and lived from 1788-1824. As a young adult, Fredericks developed a deep passion for Byron’s poetry. The Poet: Lord Byron was cast posthumously in 1998 and resides in the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum’s sculpture garden.

Marshall M. Fredericks Papers
Series V, Box 15 Folder 44

1992

Use of this image requires permission from the Marshall M. Fredericks Archives.

V-15-44

image/jpeg

Image

Royal Oak (Mich.)

Color print

4" x 6"