Those people who love to walk through the big cities when doing tourism and are also observers, if they have ever been wandering around New York, most likely, they have noticed a dozen statues that are scattered throughout Manhattan and whose face is that of the same woman.
Is about Audrey Munson, a New York actress and model born in 1891 who became immensely popular during the second decade of the 20th century.
Audrey is considered the first ‘top model’ of her time, besides having been one of the pioneering actresses of the first silent films shot in the United States in which a woman appeared completely naked (Although it was not pornographic content but erotic).
When he was only 15 years old, he began to pose as a model for different artists who made sculptures commissioned by institutions or companies in New York, as well as painters, muralists or photographers, becoming one of the most popular faces of the following decade.
It should be noted that Audrey Munson not only posed for the aforementioned dozen statues in New York (including the one that is at the top of the municipal building in Manhattan), there are also many others distributed in other cities in the United States, but she did not obtain the expected success as an actress, although yes as a model, posing for important artists.
In the early 1920s, everything changed and Audrey, just 30 years old, was involved in a couple of scandals that caused her to stay out of the profession, in addition to her mental health.
On the one hand, he made public the sexual harassment he suffered by an important theater manager (of whom he never said the name), at a time when no woman dared to report this type of aggression. He was also splattered by the scandal starring Dr. Walter Wilkins, who was twice his age and fell madly in love with Audrey Munson, murdering his wife in order to marry the actress.
Audrey denied being involved in such a crime and being aware of the intentions of Wikins and after being questioned she was released without charges. However, the murderer was found guilty after being tried and sentenced to die in the electric chair, a penalty that could not be executed because he committed suicide in his cell by hanging himself.
Despite the innocence of Audrey Munson in this matter, the tabloid press of the time was primed with her, ceasing to be required by filmmakers and theatrical entrepreneurs to work with them, in addition to not receiving offers of posing for sculptors, photographers and painters .
This caused that on May 27, 1922 Audrey tried to commit suicide and starting there a hell of paranoia that led her to be admitted to a psychiatric center (by order of a judge) in 1931 (at age 39). And there she spent the rest of her life locked up, until she died in 1996 at the age of 104 and in complete oblivion.
In the following link you can see the complete list of statues and monuments in which Audrey Munson posed, the photograph and their location: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Munson#Sculptures_of_Munson
Reference sources and images: nytimes / mentalfloss / newyorker / imdb / Wikimedia commons
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