Artwork Page for Turtle Baby

Details / Information for Turtle Baby

Turtle Baby

c. 1910–16

Edith Barretto Stevens Parsons

(American, 1878–1956)
Culture
America
Medium
bronze
Measurements
Overall: 104.2 cm (41 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection 1923.724
Edition
6 in edition
Public Domain
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Location
000 Education Gallery
Print
?

Did You Know?

Parsons created similar sculptures featuring young girls and boys with ducks, frogs, and fish.

Description

Parsons achieved renown through her garden sculptures of young children accompanied by animals, which one commentator praised for capturing “the happiness of just being alive.” In Turtle Baby, her most famous composition, the figure of the girl was modeled after her daughter. Conceived as a fountain, the sculpture has internal water conduits exiting the mouths of the four turtles circling its base.
A dark brown bronze sculpture depicts a nude child looking up and smiling, holding a turtle by the leg in each hand. The turtles, each about the size of the child's head, hang upside down on either side. The child stands on an orb with their legs together, right big toe tilting up and over their left foot. The orb is supported on the backs of turtles, who face outward, heads tilted up.

Turtle Baby

c. 1910–16

Edith Barretto Stevens Parsons

(American, 1878–1956)
America

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