In Search of Audrey Munson: America's First Supermodel

In the first decade of the twentieth century, one young, beautiful woman became America's first supermodel.

Every sculptor wanted to sculpt her. Every painter wanted to paint her. She even appeard in some of the earliest Hollywood movies... nude!

Her fame and acclaim lasted for only 15 years, and then it all suddenly collapsed. At age thirty-one, she tried to commit suicide, and at forty, she was committed to a mental institution, where she lived for the next sixty-five years.

In Manhattan, almost 100 years after her career ended, Audrey Munson is everywhere, from the southern tip of the island all the way to Columbia University near 116th Street. New Yorkers and tourists alike pass her by and even eat lunch under her gaze without knowing her amazing story...

for the rest of this story, click here to go to my guest post at Jody Arneson's excellent Mid-Atlantic Day Trips blog.