The daughter of a professor of paleontology and zoology at Harvard University, Anna Hyatt Huntington was renowned for creating sculptures of animals such as this Yawning Tiger, captured in the midst of a luxurious stretch. A frequent visitor to zoos, including those in Baltimore and the Bronx, Huntington balanced sharply observed realism with emotional appeal. The original plaster for this piece, made in 1918, is now in the National Museum of Wildlife Art (Jackson, Wyoming). Between 1923 and 1927, the Gorham Manufacturing Company cast 118 examples of the Yawning Tiger; the BMA example is cast number 110. In 1931, Huntington and her husband opened America’s first public outdoor sculpture garden, Brookgreen Gardens, on their South Carolina estate. The BMA’s sculpture garden, filled with American and European works, is essentially one of Brookgreen’s descendants.