Carved limestone sculpture of woman in childbirth position, attributed to Thomas Puryear Mims (American/Tennessee, 1906-1975). Excellent condition. 13" x 18" x 8". Biography: Born into a distinguished Southern literary family, PuryearMims earned an English degree from Vanderbilt University and taught the subject for a brief period. His fascination with sculpture eventually led him to study at the Academie Julian in Paris and the Art Students League in New York, where hetrained under two of America's pioneer abstractionists, Robert Laurent and William Zorach. He also worked in the studio of the sculptor Saul Baizerman in New York. In 1934 he worked on the Mount Rushmore project as anassistant to Gutzon Borglum, but found it to be more "mechanical" than artistic. He returned to the Art Students League and eventually, to Nashville. Mims taught art at Vanderbilt University and in 1958 was appointed Sculptor inResidence. He created numerous public sculptures around Nashville, participated in several one-man and multi-artist exhibits, and, following his death, was the subject of a retrospective at Cheekwood. While Mims's early work was largely