NOTES
Paul Manship’s love of mythology and long hours spent contemplating the mysteries of the night sky inspired the wonder this sculpture evokes. Manship met with astronomers at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, and at Harvard University to get his astronomy right.
The artist created this sphere as a guide to the heavens. The globe has the North Star at the top, a horizontal band at the horizon line, and is oriented at the latitude of 40 degrees North. Each of the 66 constellations depicted are cast in bronze. Individual stars, in their correct position and intensity, are cast in silver. A woman floating on a bed of clouds at the base of the orb represents Night.
