Masterpieces of American sculpture compose a new exhibition, The American Hand – Sculpture from Three Centuries, to help commemorate Babcock Galleries’ historic 160th Anniversary celebration. This exhibition is carefully curated from the gallery’s holdings and includes superb works by such notable masters as Hiram Powers, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, William Zorach, Seymour Lipton and Dorothy Dehner.

“Stories that attend the art we encounter are often as vivid as the art itself,” observes John Driscoll in his introduction to the exhibition’s full-color catalogue. The American Hand celebrates some of the greatest achievements of American sculptors and some of the great stories that accrue when works of art subsequently pass from hand to hand, collection to collection. “A work of art has its own life through time, through various additional hands, through generations…when the artist’s work is done, the life of the work of art begins….”

Among the two dozen sculptures that compose this exhibition are Augustus Saint-Gauden’s iconic 1899 DIANA OF THE TOWER, which was originally modeled to stride atop Stanford White’s new Madison Square Garden; Theodore Baur’s poignant THE BUFFALO HUNT, an 1876 commission for the United States Centennial Celebration; William Zorach’s introspective female nude, YOUNG WOMAN, 1956 that Marilyn Monroe gave to her husband, Arthur Miller, as a Hanukkah gift; and the haunting Felix Weihs de Weldon BUST OF JOHN F. KENNEDY, commissioned by Mrs. Kennedy in the spring of 1963 a few months before his tragic assassination. Important works by William O’Donovan, Frederic Remington, Elihu Vedder, Paul Manship, Abe Ajay and Deborah Butterfield are among those featured.

The American Hand – Sculpture from Three Centuries will be on view February 2 through March 16, 2012 at Babcock Galleries, 724 Fifth Avenue, New York. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm Monday through Friday, and by appointment on Saturday. To receive further information and updates regarding Babcock Galleries’ 160th Anniversary celebration, become a fan of Babcock Galleries on Facebook, follow @BabcockGallery on Twitter, or visit www.babcockgalleries.com.