Small bronze dancers by the American sculptor Harriet Whitney Frishmuth are on view on East 61st Street, in a second-floor gallery inside Syracuse University's Joseph I. Lubin House at 11 East 61st Street, between Fifth and Madison avenues. The Syracuse University Art Museum says the show is the first solo exhibition of Frishmuth's work in nearly 20 years, and the university lists it as running through Feb. 4, 2027.

The exhibition takes its title from a line about one of her models, and it pairs finished bronzes with the drawings and preparatory sketches that came before them. Everything in the room comes from the Syracuse University Art Museum's own collection. One of the works the university has highlighted is Wild Grapes, a 1926 bronze that came to the museum as a gift from the estate of Ruth Talcott.

Who Frishmuth was

Frishmuth lived from 1880 to 1980 and spent the most productive years of her career working in New York City. In the early 20th century, critics took note of her small bronze figures of dancers caught mid-movement: arms flung back, bodies balanced on one foot, poses that look as if they might shift in the next second. Modern dance was her central subject, and the women who posed for her were often ballerinas.

What set her studio apart, according to the university, was how she worked with those models. Rather than placing them in fixed, classical positions, as academic sculpture training of the era taught, Frishmuth let her models choose their own poses. The university describes her studio as a collaborative space, a sharp break from the traditional arrangement in which the artist directed and the model held still.

Later in life, Frishmuth left New York for Philadelphia and a more private existence, and her work drew less attention than that of some of her peers. Syracuse University holds her papers along with a large group of her drawings, which is part of why the school is in a position to mount a show like this one.

A student project that became an exhibition

The show started in a classroom. Em Spencer, who finished a graduate degree at Syracuse in 2026, began the project in a graduate art history seminar taught by professor Sascha Scott, then turned it into a capstone. While working as a collections assistant at the Art Museum, Spencer spent more than a year reading through Frishmuth's papers at the university's Special Collections Research Center in Bird Library. Melissa Yuen of the Art Museum served as curator for the exhibition.

That research shows up on the walls in the pairing of sketch and sculpture. Seeing a drawing of a model's pose next to the bronze it became gives a visitor a sense of how Frishmuth moved from a quick study on paper to a finished figure, and how much of the final form began with a choice the dancer made.

A reception and gallery talk in November

The Louise and Bernard Palitz Gallery has scheduled a reception and gallery talk for Friday, Nov. 20, from 6 to 8 p.m. The gallery invites people who want updates on events to join its mailing list through the Syracuse University Art Museum website.

How to visit

  • Where: Louise and Bernard Palitz Gallery, Syracuse University Lubin House, 11 East 61st Street, second floor, New York, NY 10065
  • When: On view through Feb. 4, 2027, according to the university
  • Gallery hours: Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed Saturdays, Sundays and university holidays, so plan a weekday visit.
  • Event: Reception and gallery talk, Friday, Nov. 20, 6 to 8 p.m.
  • Subway: The N, R and W trains to 5 Av/59 St, or the F and Q trains to Lexington Av/63 St

The gallery's own web page still shows earlier summer dates for the show, so anyone planning a trip near the end of the run may want to check with the Syracuse University Art Museum before heading over. For a weekday lunch break or an afternoon off, it is a short walk from Fifth Avenue and Central Park's southeast corner.

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