Bat
Bronze statuette, by Lawrence Tenney Stevens

Bat
Bronze statuette, by Lawrence Tenney Stevens
A bat is represented in an attitude of defiance, the wings spread, the body curved forward, and the mouth open. The statuette is supported on a globe. When the sculptor found his studio at Bedford Village infested with bats, he staged a hunt to get rid of them. Struck by the expression of rage on the face of the last one killed, he immediately modeled it. Ordered cast for the rock garden of Mrs. Joseph P. Cotton, Mount Kisco, it was set on a cylindrical base carved with night creatures and flowers.

Lawrence Tenney Stevens
Born in Brighton, Massachusetts, on July 16th, 1896
He began his studies at the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where Bela Pratt was his teacher for two years. His career was interrupted by the World War and by work in the Mexican oil fields. Later he studied with Charles Grafly and modeled an equestrian statuette in bronze of Mrs. Ashton de Peyster. He won the Prix de Rome for the years from 1922-1925, also traveling in Greece, Egypt, and the Near East. The eclecticism of the American Academy and the impressions made by his travels affected the sculpture done at Rome.

All images on this sculpting site were photographed, scanned and edited by Rod and Gail Lang. Information is obtained from "Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture" Volumes I and II. To obtain a copy of these magnificent books which provide photos and detail on hundreds of sculptures in Brookgreen Gardens call the gardens at 843-237-4218.