Renee Prahar
{{short description|Actor}}
Renée Prahar (c. 1879 — August 17, 1962) also known as Irene Prahar, was an American sculptor and actress based in New York City and later in Connecticut.
Early life
Irene Prahar was born in New York, of Bohemian ancestry.Marian Hale, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10137454/renee_prahar_1922/ "Need Sculpture in Your Home"] The Richmond Item (October 29, 1922): 7. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} She studied sculpture in Paris at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, working with Auguste Rodin and Antoine Bourdelle. While in Paris, she showed work at the Salon of the Société National des Beaux-Arts in 1911[https://www.proquest.com/docview/97172641 "Few Novel Exhibits in Junior Salon"] New York Times (April 15, 1911): 3. and again in 1914.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/97680841 "Many American Works at Salon"] New York Times (April 12, 1914): C2.
Career
File:A Study of Nazimova by Renee Prahar.tif by Renee Prahar, from a 1922 publication.]]
Prahar began working as a stage actress, in the company of actor Richard Mansfield.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10136921/irene_prahar_recovers_stolen_jewels/ "Actress Will Get Her Jewels"] The Sun (March 27, 1906): 12. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} She appeared with Mansfield in Old Heidelberg (1903-1904),[https://www.proquest.com/docview/96416853 "Show Waits on Mansfield"] New York Times (March 15, 1904): 9. The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1905),[https://www.proquest.com/docview/96559210 "Mr. Mansfield as Ivan"] New York Times (March 23, 1905): 9. The Merchant of Venice (1906),[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10136592/merchant_of_venice_1906/ "Mr. Mansfield as Shylock"] Baltimore Sun (January 11, 1906): 12. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} The Scarlet Letter (1906),Burns Mantle, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10136675/burns_mantle_on_the_scarlet_letter/ "The Scarlet Letter"] Inter Ocean (May 9, 1906): 6. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} and Peer Gynt (1906).[https://www.proquest.com/docview/96618366 "Peer Gynt in English Put on by Mansfield"] New York Times (October 30, 1906): 9.
As a sculptor, Prahar created portrait busts[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10137022/irene_prahar_actress_sculptor_1911/ "Actress Sculptor's Success"] The Times-Democrat (July 2, 1911): 35. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} and human or animal figures, usually angular and stylized, in a method she called "Triangularism".[https://books.google.com/books?id=YdERAQAAMAAJ&dq=Renee+Prahar+1917&pg=PA376 "Suffragist Sculptress Strikes a New Note"] The Woman Citizen (October 13, 1917): 376. In 1922, she was hired to create monkey sculptures and architectural features to adorn the terrace of Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/99390851 "Monkeys Adorn Terrace"] New York Times (February 9, 1922): 15. Her "Fox Gate Posts" were featured in the 1931 opening of the American Women's Association's permanent gallery in 1931.Edward Alden Jewell, [https://www.proquest.com/docview/99329278 "Woman's Gallery Opens Today"] New York Times (July 1, 1931): 30. She also designed a medal for the American Women's Association, given as an award to distinguished women of the New York area.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/99225449 "Most Distinguished Woman of City Area to Get Medal"] New York Times (November 8, 1931): N1. The medal's first recipient in 1931 was Margaret Sanger.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/99241827 "Mrs. Sanger Named for Women's Prize"] New York Times (November 10, 1931): 24.
Critic Henry McBride called Prahar "a pioneer in the fantastic and the grotesque."[https://books.google.com/books?id=lRM8AQAAMAAJ&dq=Renee+Prahar&pg=RA6-PA28 "Sculptural Fantasies to Lift After-War Gloom"] Literary Digest (February 18, 1922): 28. In the same year, the New York Times critic commented on Prahar's "remarkably cool intellectuality".[https://www.proquest.com/docview/99667677 "Sculptures by Renee Prahar"] New York Times (February 5, 1922): 48.
In 1930 she wrote in protest of fellow sculptor George Grey Barnard's eviction from his studio space.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10147779/george_grey_barnard_eviction_protest/ "Protests Grow Over Barnard Studio Eviction"] Brooklyn Daily Eagle (November 19, 1930): 19. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} Later in her career, she designed and decorated homes in Connecticut, with George's daughter, Colette Barnard.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/116218679 "Renee Prahar, 83, Sculptor, is Dead"] New York Times (August 19, 1962): 88.
Personal life
Renee Prahar died in 1962, aged 83 years, in New London, Connecticut.
A small collection of Prahar's papers are in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art.[https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/renee-prahar-papers-10800 Renee Prahar Papers, 1912-1938], Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
References
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Category:École des Beaux-Arts alumni