This sculpture was carved directly in granite in 1937 by my father Richard Davis (richarddavissculptor.com) and has been in our family since that time. It was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and elsewhere during the 1930's & 1940's. Please see the website above for details about this piece and its creator.
48" x 20" x 20"
Hello, this item is a free-standing granite sculpture titled Girl in Granite, created by American sculptor Richard Davis in 1937. The figure, standing at 48 inches tall, is a stylized female nude rendered in a vertically elongated, classical-modernist form, with softened anatomical details and a sleek, tapered body. The deliberate abstraction and simplified contours suggest a dialogue with both Art Deco stylization and archaic Greek kouroi, filtered through the restrained American idiom of the 1930s. The work’s surface shows careful polishing, particularly along the torso and arms, enhancing its sense of elegance and permanence.
This piece was exhibited at both the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum—two prestigious institutions that underscore Davis’s presence in the American modernist sculptural scene of the 1930s and 1940s. The scale, subject matter, and minimalist treatment align this work with contemporaries like William Zorach and Gaston Lachaise, although Davis’s legacy has remained relatively underrecognized. Nonetheless, due to the institutional provenance, artistic clarity, and sculptural execution in a durable and prestigious material like granite, this work holds significant collectible and curatorial interest. Its current estimated market value would fall between $15,000 and $22,000 USD.