Q: How long has the Bird Girl statue been in Savannah and who made it?
A: Savannah's Bird Girl, the famous bronze statue of a girl holding two bowls in her outstretched arms, was sculpted by artist Sylvia Shaw Judson in 1936. For more than 50 years, the statue, nicknamed "Little Wendy," quietly presided over a family burial plot in a historic Savannah cemetery.
Judson, who trained at the Art Institute of Chicago, was a sculptor and teacher from the early to mid-20th century, and her artwork is featured in gardens, museums and parks around the country.
“Her mother was a poet and her father was an architect, so they encouraged her to be an artist,” said Erin Dunn, assistant curator of Savannah’s Telfair Museums, where the Bird Girl is now housed. “And so, she really pursued that probably at an age when a lot of young women in the early 20th century weren’t.”
A few years after the Bird Girl was created, the Trosdal family of Savannah purchased the sculpture for their family plot in Bonaventure Cemetery. According to “The ‘Bird Girl,’” a book by Sandra L. Underwood, Lucy Boyd Trosdal bought the statue. Trosdal was a cultural leader who supported many of the city’s organizations, such as the Savannah Symphony and Telfair Museums.
“So, she was bought by Mrs. Lucy Boyd Trosdal in probably around 1940 for the family grave spot at Bonaventure Cemetery, where she became kind of the central memorial element of that family grave spot,” said Dunn.
More than 50 years later, Bird Girl would finally have its famed moment. In 1994, a photo of the statue appeared on the cover of John Berendt’s book, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” Photographer Jack Lee was commissioned by Random House Publishing to photograph unique subjects in Bonaventure Cemetery for the book cover.
“His photograph became the iconic cover of the books,” said Dunn. “And so that’s when tourists started coming to Savannah looking for the Bird Girl.”
So many tourists began visiting that the Bird Girl had to be removed from Bonaventure Cemetery. Originally, “Little Wendy” was taken in by one of the descendants of Lucy Trosdal. However, in 1997, the statue was moved to Telfair Museums, where the Bird Girl resides on a long-term loan.
Telfair Museums will feature the Bird Girl in the upcoming exhibit, Bonaventure: A Historic Cemetery in Art, from March 2 to Sept. 23.
“It was really wonderful for the museum to be able to feature her, because the museum had the resources to care for her and conserve her and make sure she’s seen in an artistic light,” said Dunn. “Which is ultimately what she is. She is a sculpture designed by a sculptor.”
Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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