What happened to Venus de Milo?
An eight foot tall plaster copy of one of the world's most famous statues, the Venus de Milo, stood in the front hall stairwell at Hoyt Sherman Place, home of the Des Moines Women’s. Club tradition says that it had been purchased by the club's art committee from the 1895 Chicago World's Fair. A mystery around its origins remains. In 1928 the Cumming School of Art needed to move out of the third floor of the downtown library.
Albert Cumming was originally invited to Des Moines by the club. Harriet Macy, one of the directors of the school and a DMWC member announced that the school would move in the fall of 19 to a new location. Equipment and many art treasures had accumulated on the library’s third floor. According to library trustee minutes, “Two large statues of Venus, patron saint of the school, were lowered down the library’s elevator shaft by derrick during the move.” Did one of these statues end up in the stairwell at Hoyt Sherman Place? Chances are, it did.
In the mid-40's during a redecoration of the club, members decided Venus must go. Some thought her old-fashioned, or overpowering or too conspicuous when the front door opened on her ageless glory.
The statue was given (back?) to the former Cummings Art School to be studied, sketched and loved by students until 1954, when the school closed and the late Mrs. Alice McKee Cumming, widow of Charles Cumming, founder of the school, moved to Arizona.
Venus then was hauled by truck to 4023 Cottage Grove, where Marjorie Wellborn Smith gave her an indoor home in her garage, then an outdoor niche formed by a chimney on the west side of the house.
In 1957, Mrs. Cumming, back for a visit, had Venus crated up again and shipped to CA to adorn the swimming pool at the home of a former Cummings Art School student, Verna Wells Huthsteiner, wife of a neurologist, Dr. George Huthsteiner.
Venus De Milo once again moved. It was is the property of the San Fernando (CA) Art Center, gift of Mrs. Huthsteiner, who at length also found her over powering as a private possession. The current location of the statue is unknown.
