White Torso

Details

Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964)
White Torso
signed, numbered and dated on the base 'Archipenko 11/12 1916'
bronze with dark green patina
Height: 18¾in. (47.6cm.)
Conceived in 1916; this bronze version cast during the artist's lifetime, number 11 in an edition of 12

Literature

H. Hildebrandt, Alexander Archipenko, Berlin, 1923, no. 22 (another cast illustrated, pl. 22)
M. Raynal, A. Archipenko, Rome, 1923, pl. 12 (another cast illustrated)
A. Archipenko, Archipenko, Fifty Creative Years: 1908-1958, New York, 1960, pl. 221 (another cast illustrated)
K.J. Michaelsen, Archipenko, A Study of the Early Works: 1908-1921, New York, 1977, pl. 70 (another cast illustrated)
D. Karshan, Archipenko, Sculpture, Drawings and Prints 1908-1963, Danville, Kentucky, 1985, no. 33 (silver-plated bronze version illustrated, p. 84)

Lot Essay

The title White Torso probably refers to the original 1916 version of this sculpture, which Archipenko carved in white marble (coll. Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf). Although Cubism remained a clear and important influence on Archipenko's work through the end of the decade, Flat Torso of 1914 and White Torso represent a visual antithesis to the complex planar structure which usually characterized avant-garde sculpture of this period. The approach to form in the torsos is reductionistic and looks back to archaic, Hellenistic models. With almost effortless simplicity White Torso succeeds at a pure and classical balance. Nevertheless, because their character is radical and almost severe, the torsos left little room for further stylistic development, although Archipenko returned to comparably pure figurative statements several times in the later course of his career (see lot 299).

Frances Archipenko Gray has confirmed the authenticity of this bronze.