Mildred Howells

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

1897 · silvered bronze · The American Wing

This medal of poet and artist Mildred Howells (1873-1966) was excerpted from Saint-Gaudens’s rectangular low-relief portrait of the sitter posed alongside her father, writer William Dean Howells. The reduced circular shape illustrates Saint-Gaudens’s mastery of compositional design, as the simple lines of Howells’s right-facing profile are enlivened by the bold twists and delicate wisps of her low-swept bun.

Artist

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Date

1897

Medium

silvered bronze

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Jean Gibran, in memory of Kahlil Gibran, sculptor (1922-2008), 2009