The Joan of Arc Monument at Riverside Park in Manhattan

© Chase Guttman/Alam

Joan charges Riverside Park

Sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington was unusual for her era—a successful female artist. In 1910, she first exhibited a version of her Joan of Arc statue at the Salon in Paris, a prestigious art exhibition dating from the 1600s. But she only earned honourable mention because the exhibition’s judges didn’t think a woman working alone could create a sculpture of that magnitude. Paris’ loss is Manhattan’s gain, as the city soon commissioned a new Saint Joan for display at Riverside Park. It’s stories like this that we enjoy sharing on International Women’s Day.