His subjects often hearkened back to ancient or classical themes and his style, emphasizing simple lines, combined Greek and Oriental influences as well as Art Deco that was so popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

Manship attended the Institute of Art in St. Paul from 1892 to 1903.  Then he enrolled briefly in the Art Students League, where he assisted Solon Borglum in stone carving projects before transferring to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

From 1909 to 1912, he was at the American Academy in Rome and began to make garden and architectural sculpture.  Being in Italy, he was much influenced by classical Greek and Roman motifs.  From 1922 to 1926, he lived in Paris.

In America, he became one of the most sought after sculptor of public commissions including the gates to the Bronx Zoo and Prometheus in Rockefeller Center.  This 18-foot-tall, 8-ton sculpture became a fixture in one of the more heavily visited tourist sites, and in 2001, was covered with a protective box so that the statue could be re-gilded, which meant coated in double weight 23 and one quarter karat gold leaf. He also did bas relief work on the A T & T building in New York, a fountain for Fairmount Park in Philadelphia and the J.P. Morgan memorial at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Affiliations included the National Sculpture Society, which he served as President from 1939 to 1942 and 1945 to 1946; the National Academy of Design, and the Cornish Colony in New Hampshire.

Source:
Matthew Baigell, Dictionary of American Art
Donald Martin Reynolds, Masters of American Sculpture
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art

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