Turning Turtle
Albert Laessle American
Laessle’s Turning Turtle was the result of his long interest in the turtle as a sculptural subject, which began while he was an art student in Philadelphia. Later, in Paris, he borrowed a turtle and made careful studies. This resulting statuette depicts a turtle struggling to right itself, balanced by its head, one front leg, and one back leg. When it was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1907, apparently the jurors refused to believe that the turtle was modeled, rather than cast from life, so convincingly lifelike was the sculpture.
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