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Lot Essay
Archipenko was the first sculptor to use collage technique, as invented by Braque and Picasso in 1912, in preparatory drawings for his sculptures. He found spontaneous, sketchlike first drafts in collage effective for clarifying his compositions and ideas. In the present drawing, the areas represented by the cut-out collage elements stand out boldly as designated masses against the background. These areas are further shaped with the heavy application of pastel and coloured crayon shading to create forms reminiscent of bent sheet metal.
Donald Karshan stated that '[Archipenko's] use of pastel in the 1914 series is probably the most brilliant and powerful application of the medium during the early cubist period' and he called Archipenko's use of collage in 1913 as 'audacious' (D. Karshan, Archipenko, Sculpture, Drawings and Prints 1908-1963, Bloomington, 1985, p. 3).
Donald Karshan stated that '[Archipenko's] use of pastel in the 1914 series is probably the most brilliant and powerful application of the medium during the early cubist period' and he called Archipenko's use of collage in 1913 as 'audacious' (D. Karshan, Archipenko, Sculpture, Drawings and Prints 1908-1963, Bloomington, 1985, p. 3).