Sea Treasures

Description

In Sea Treasures, an adolescent girl inspects marine life along the shore at Coney Island, a popular leisure destination across classes at the turn of the 20th century. Her hiked-up skirt, rolled sleeves, and awkward pose—sensitively rendered by Abastenia St. Leger Eberle—suggest a figure grounded in the real world, caught in a moment of thought and action all her own. Born in Iowa and later based in New York, Eberle was a settlement-house worker and a sculptor who principally depicted women from urban immigrant communities in small-scale bronzes.

Provenance

Sold Christie’s, New York, Mar. 16, 1995, lot 111; to Conner–Rosenkranz, New York [this and the following according to email from Joel Rosenkranz, Jan. 10, 2023; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Bruce and Susan Lueck, Camden, SC, Oct. 1995; sold to Conner–Rosenkranz, New York, Apr. 2023; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2023.

Sea Treasures

Abastenia St. Leger Eberle

Modeled 1911, cast 1913–14

Accession Number

267096

Medium

Bronze

Dimensions

24.9 × 36 × 27.4 cm (9 13/16 × 14 3/16 × 10 13/16 in.)

Classification

sculpture

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Roger and J. Peter McCormick Endowment Fund; purchased with funds provided by the Roy and Irene Rettinger Foundation