Mario Korbel (1882-1954) Lived/Active: New York, Illinois/France and Germany
Vanity and Modesty
Ca. 1917
Signed/stamped: Mario Korbel, Gorham Co. Founders/QAPB
Bronze
Excellent condition, wonderful patina, minor wear commensurate with age.
Provenance: James Graham Gallery, New York; Thomas Armstrong III*, by descent to Whitney ‘Bunty” Brewster Armstrong.
Literature: Katherine Solender, The American Way in Sculpture, 1890-1930 (Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, Indiana University Press, 1986), cat. #36, pg. 38, repr.
Vanity and Modesty is a rare and important work by Mario Korbel that exemplifies his talent as a master sculptor. Depicting two female figures at center; one nude with outstretched arms representing Vanity, the other, Modesty, clothed with arms held tightly to her body, the pair is flanked on either side by a peacock, a symbol of vanity. Korbel’s first solo show was held at Gorham Galleries, New York City, in 1917, which operated under the Gorham Manufacturing Company and their Bronze Division, based in Providence, Rhode Island. The show featured almost sixty sculptures by Korbel, mostly small bronze female figures.
There are two other known existing examples of Vanity and Modesty, both held within institutional collections: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (1940.572), bequest of James Parmelee, and The Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island (85.174.1), gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph K. Ott.
10 ¼” h., 17” w., 4 ½” d.
Price: $22,000
*Thomas N. Armstrong III was an American museum curator and collector who was director emeritus of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Andy Warhol Museum. He was also a board member of the New York School of Interior Design. Armstrong died in 2011 at the age of 78. He and his wife “Bunty”, who died in 2022 at the age of 84, were long time supporters of The Garden Conservancy of which Mr. Armstrong, who created a three-acre garden at their country home at Fishers Island, New York, became chairman in 2007. Mrs. Armstrong was active as a member of The River Club and The Cosmopolitan Club, a long-time sustaining member of the New York Junior League, a long-time board member of the Women’s Prison Association, and head of the Ladies Committee of the National Horse Show.