The Duck Girl was first exhibited in 1914 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where it won the Widener Gold Medal. The Fairmount Park Art Association purchased one of two casts from the artist and installed Duck Girl in Cloverly Park, at Wissahickon and School House Lane, in 1916. The sculpture was damaged and moved to storage in 1956, but rescued by the Rittenhouse Square Improvement Association and relocated to the Square, where it continues to delight the visiting public. Poised in a Greek dress, the figure draws on classical imagery—characteristic of Paul Manship's earlier works. His later work, Aero Memorial, was installed at Logan Square.

Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).