The Song of the Swan
Item
Title
The Song of the Swan
Date
1959
Medium
Plaster
Dimensions
18.5 x 5.25 x 10.6 in.
Accession Number
2006.346
On View
Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University Fuller Gallery 204 (Meta Fuller 4, Shelf 4)
Classification
Sculpture
Description
Female head with long neck, facing to the right and having curly hair on a flared pedestal. Done in white plaster. Pedestal is as tall as the woman's neck and head.
Accrual Method
Collection was gifted to the Danforth in 2006. Unfortunately they sat uncatalogued for close to 10 years. It took until an IMLS grant awarded in 2015 through 2016 for this collection to be catalogued and put into the collections database. - Rachel 2021 Came to us from Pat West. From ephemera research and photographs, this sculpture, once called 'Head of a Young Man' is actually 'Song of the Swan' also called 'The Dying Swan'. From Judith Kerr's 1986 thesis, Meta made this statuette in plaster of a woman listening as she hears the dying swan's song. It was sent to Howard University's 1961 exhibition on the opening of New Vistas in American Art. There is a corresponding poem, most likely written by Meta, in Eph1.40
Provenance
Gift of the Meta V. W. Fuller Trust Part of the Estate of Meta V. W. Fuller from 1968-2001. In the collection of the Meta V. W. Fuller Trust, 2001-2006
Condition
Fair: Large chip from bottom right facing pedestal corner. Orange stain on top of hair front. Large orange stain on bottom back of pedestal. Small loss on tip of nose. Rough finish piece with many pinholes. Dirty overall.
Credit
Gift of the Meta V. W. Fuller Trust