Throwback Thursday: The Head of Walter
(1926 Sculpture by Sydney R. Mudge)
For the first week of September, our Throwback Thursday highlights Head of Walter, a plaster sculpture created in 1926 by Sydney R. Mudge, then a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA).
We’re fortunate to also have photographs from that year’s PAFA student exhibition, taken by W. Vivian Chappel, preserved in our archives.
100 Years of Solitude
For nearly a century, Walter’s head remained in storage at Historic Yellow Springs— a silent witness to the Good News Productions era and the earliest days of our organization. Time, however, has not been too kind to him.
His nose is missing, his surface shows scuffs, and while some of his plaster companions from the same period still bear crayon marks from children of the Good News era, Walter seems to have narrowly avoided that fate.
That being said, though he hasn’t been colored on like a collaborative art project between a 1920s art student sculpture and the children of a 1950s film commune— his worn condition reminds us of the toll neglect can take on historic objects.
Who is “Walter”?
Walter’s story is a testament to the importance of recognizing and preserving the history around us. Through a collaboration with the PAFA Archives Digital Collection, we can access student enrollment records from the Chester Springs Open Air Painting Academy.
During classes at the academy, it was common for students to pose as models for each other. They sculpted from life, such as can be seen in this photograph of a sculpting class creating sculptures of barnyard animals and a horse.
Because we know that the exhibition took place at the Chappel Studio (1507 Walnut Street in Philadelphia) in 1926, we can cross-reference class rosters from around that time to search for Walter’s identity.
Two possible candidates emerge: Walter H. Vanden, who attended in summer 1925, and Walter Lundborg, who also studied at the Country School, earlier that summer.
However, it is important to note the timeline makes both identifications dubious.
It was also common at the time for local townspeople to pose for students’ work, meaning Walter might not have been a student and may never have appeared in the class records at all.
Sidney R. Mudge, Artist
Sydney R. Mudge, however, is easier to trace.
Archival records show that he studied sculpture at PAFA in 1926, 1927, 1928, and 1931. A class index card from 1926 notes that he created multiple sculpted heads, one of which is believed to be Walter.
Although Walter still lacks a confirmed last name, he has now been formally accessioned into the records at Historic Yellow Springs.
His survival reminds us of both the fragility and resilience of art objects, and the responsibility we share as historians, artists, archivists, and storytellers to preserve them.
When PAFA sold the Chester Springs property, the buildings and their contents— including Walter and several of his sculptural companions— were transferred “as is.”
These silent witnesses have endured almost a century of change, carrying with them untold stories of the past.
While digging them up accurately can be difficult- it is also half the fun of history. And who doesn’t love a little mystery, now and again?
🗿✨📷