Lot Essay
Born in Lithuania in 1887, William Zorach was only four years old when his family immigrated to the United States. Zorach's initial art training began at the Morgan Lithograph Company of Cleveland. His earnings as a commercial lithographer permitted Zorach to further his training as a creative artist. Originally, Zorach was well-known as a painter: it was not until 1922, at the age of 35, that he realized sculpture was the natural medium for him. "That he should have decided in favor of this art is not surprising, for an examination of his painting of this time reveals an increasing interest in the plastic possibilities of form, which becomes most marked after 1918. Hence it seems just to consider this exchange of media not so much as an absolute change but rather as a logical evolution from painting to sculpture." (P.S. Wingert, The Sculpture of William Zorach, New York, 1938, p. 14)
Diva clearly illustrates Zorach's preference for a universal form, rather than a description associated to an individual figure. He chooses simple, general forms and fluid surfaces applying them on a grand scale, enhancing the sculptural sense of mass and volume. "The use of these ample forms, on the other hand, would be most unsatisfactory if they were rendered in a detailed, realistic fashion; instead, the sculptor closely analyzes the principal component parts of his figures and expresses these parts in simplified terms, so as to give the inherent character of each of them. Thus it is valid sculpturally to increase the size of these component parts, for in this way the structural importance of each part and the relationships between them are made clearer." (The Sculpture of William Zorach, p. 47) Zorach amplifies, exaggerates and distorts the figure to render a truly three-dimensional design. In his own words Zorach writes, "The modern movement has freed art from the idea of reproducing nature...which has suddenly been found to have nothing to do with art... The essential contribution of modern art. . . is the building up and development of purely abstract forms . . . By abstract form I mean purely geometric shapes and simplified equivalents of nature. . . " (W. Zorach, "The New Tendencies in Art," The Arts, Vol. 2, New York, 1921, p. 10-15)
Diva clearly illustrates Zorach's preference for a universal form, rather than a description associated to an individual figure. He chooses simple, general forms and fluid surfaces applying them on a grand scale, enhancing the sculptural sense of mass and volume. "The use of these ample forms, on the other hand, would be most unsatisfactory if they were rendered in a detailed, realistic fashion; instead, the sculptor closely analyzes the principal component parts of his figures and expresses these parts in simplified terms, so as to give the inherent character of each of them. Thus it is valid sculpturally to increase the size of these component parts, for in this way the structural importance of each part and the relationships between them are made clearer." (The Sculpture of William Zorach, p. 47) Zorach amplifies, exaggerates and distorts the figure to render a truly three-dimensional design. In his own words Zorach writes, "The modern movement has freed art from the idea of reproducing nature...which has suddenly been found to have nothing to do with art... The essential contribution of modern art. . . is the building up and development of purely abstract forms . . . By abstract form I mean purely geometric shapes and simplified equivalents of nature. . . " (W. Zorach, "The New Tendencies in Art," The Arts, Vol. 2, New York, 1921, p. 10-15)