NARRATOR:
Cheetahs are the fastest animals on earth; for short distances they can run up to 70 mph. Though they capture their prey in the blink of an eye, after the chase they must rest half an hour before they are able to eat it.
Here, the exotic cat sits on a rough-hewn stone pedestal, surrounded by flowers, grasses, and trees—its natural habitat. The animal is poised and alert, as if it hears a sound. Its sleek grace and sinuous outline is perfectly captured in unpolished bronze, even the twitch of its restless tail.
Gwynn Murrill is a California artist. She sculpts animals of all kinds in wood, bronze, marble and polished aluminum. Her highly stylized work and simplified forms bring a distinctly modernist sensibility to her subjects. At the same time, her animals’ regal poses recall ancient statuary, as silent and mysterious as an Egyptian monument.
Sitting Cheetah
1996
Gwynn Murrill (American, 1942-)
On View
Gwynn Murrill is a California artist whose Sitting Cheetah is the Sculpture Garden's most recent acquisition. Animals of all kinds are her favorite subjects. She has sculpted them in wood, bronze and marble. Murrill's body of work is characterized by the smoothed surfaces of her animals; she has a talent for evoking extremely life-like and striking poses from the animals while reducing their forms to the most simple and classical elements. The Sitting Cheetah is poised and alert, a strong presence in the garden.
Details
- Artist Name: Gwynn Murrill (American, 1942-)
- Title: Sitting Cheetah
- Date: 1996
- Medium: Bronze
- Edition: Edition of 9, Cast No. 7
- Dimensions: 39-1/2 x 54-1/2 x 38 in. (100.3 x 138.4 x 96.5 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Gift of The Ernest Lieblich Foundation
- Accession Number: P.2001.01
- Copyright: © 2008 Gwynn Murrill
Object Information
The Ernest Lieblich Foundation, gift 2001 to;
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena.
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena.
- Los Angeles Times,
- Duncan, Michael, Gwynn Murrill, 1997, pp. 16-17
- Norton Simon Museum Members' Summer Newsletter, 2001,
- Murrill, Gwynn, Gwynn Murrill: Pouncing on Convention, 2004, pp. 20, 22-23
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