The Real Miss Manhattan: Audrey Munson

There once was a girl who became Manhattan, became New York City. Not in the metaphorical sense, but quite literally in bronze and marble. Her name was Audrey Munson, and in the early 1900s, she was known to the world as Miss Manhattan, The American Venus, and the muse of an entire artistic generation.

Yet, like Manhattan itself, her story is one of glittering triumph and haunting solitude - a tale that reminds us how beauty, brilliance, and boldness can both crown and curse a woman ahead of her time.

It began, as so many New York stories do, in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue. A young chorus girl, Audrey, was window-shopping with her mother when a photographer spotted her and asked to take her portrait. One photograph led to another, and soon Audrey found herself modelling for sculptors and painters across Manhattan and the city.

She had a face the artists described as timeless, delicate yet strong, classic yet distinctly modern. Her form inspired statues that still grace Manhattan today. If you’ve walked past the Pulitzer Fountain outside the Plaza Hotel, you’ve seen her - reborn as the goddess Pomona, her marble shoulders dusted by time and taxi fumes. She gazes down from the Manhattan Municipal Building in a gilded gown, and rests quietly in Central Park, Columbia University, and City Hall. Even now, she lingers in the skyline, the spirit of a city frozen in sculpture.

At the height of her fame, Audrey Munson was everywhere, though few knew her name.

Audrey wasn’t merely a muse; she was a woman of ideas. She believed passionately that the model was as vital to art as the sculptor or painter. “The model is the tool with which the artist works,” she once said. “She inspires a masterpiece and is the direct cause of enriching the painter or sculptor.”

In an age when women’s voices were often hushed, Miss Manhattan spoke boldly. She joined the Art Workers’ Club for Women, an organization fighting to protect and dignify models’ work, insisting that their creative contributions deserved recognition- and fair pay.

Audrey’s fame extended far beyond the artist’s studio. When Hollywood was still in its infancy, she became one of its first stars, appearing in silent films like Inspiration (1915) and Purity (1916). In Inspiration, she became the first woman to appear nude in an American film- a daring act of creative freedom that shocked polite society but marked her as a pioneer of self-expression. Like the dancer Isadora Duncan, she believed women should move, live, and dress freely - without corsets, without fear.

But fame for a woman in the early twentieth century could be as fickle as a camera shutter and far more dangerous. In 1919 Audrey and her mother were living in a boarding house on West 65th Street in Manhattan when the owner, Dr Walter Keene Wilkins, reportedly became infatuated with her. His wife Julia was found murdered on February 27. Audrey and her mother fled under a cloud of suspicion and were questioned by detectives in Canada. Wilkins was tried, found guilty of murder and sentenced to the electric chair, but he took his own life in prison before the sentence could be carried out.

Though Audrey denied any romantic involvement the damage had already been done. The very boldness and poise that once made her the darling of sculptors and the rising star of silent cinema were cast in a harsh light. She left Hollywood and returned to New York, publishing essays decrying the treatment of women in art and film. By her fortieth birthday she was struggling with mental health and betrayed by those closest to her. At her mother’s request a judge ordered her commitment to a mental institution in Ogdensburg, New York. Miss Manhattan remained there for more than six decades.

Audrey Munson lived to the remarkable age of 104, passing away in 1996 in upstate New York. She was buried in an unmarked grave, forgotten by the world she had once defined.

And yet… Miss Manhattan was never truly gone.

Walk through New York City, and Audrey is everywhere. Her likeness crowns buildings, guards fountains, and gazes from park pedestals. Her curves, once captured in clay, still hold court in bronze. Every statue she inspired whispers her name.

Audrey Munson - the original Miss Manhattan - was more than beauty. She was resilience in marble, rebellion in silk, and the quiet echo of a woman who refused to fade.

Have you seen our Miss Manhattan Size Guide, where our Kitten D’Amour Kittens try on the 'Miss Manhattan' styles for you? Whether you’re aiming for that cinched waist, sculpted hip or a hint of bustle flair, you’ll find honest fit advice and sweet notes from the fitting room, perfect for helping you find the silhouette that suits you!