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Lot Essay
Donald Karshan notes that only two known bronze versions of Vase Woman I exist, the present cast from the Goeritz Collection and another housed in in private collection which according to the Archipenko Foundation may have been cast at a later date.
Both were cast circa 1919 with the present piece inscribed with the date, although Karshan suggests an execution date of 1918, the year previous to the casting. Of the bronze, Karshan writes:
"The first of two highly-abstracted and tapering tower figures, Vase is unprecedented for its time. It is not until Brancusi's Golden Bird of 1919 or his Bird in Space of 1923 that Brancusi reached such soaring, abstracted proportions. Vase also anticipates later surrealistic works of Max Ernst and Henry Moore and thus is a milestone in the vocabulary of modern sculpture for the early decades of this century. The title and form of the work signify woman as a fertile vessel. Frederick S. White has stated: "In 1918 Archipenko modelled Vase Figure (Ray is its variant). Earlier than Brancusi's Bird in Space, it inevitably invites comparison with it. Ray does not celebrate flight, but the amazing erectness of the human body. There is just enough modulation to make plain that it is a figure; it stands with serenity and poise and the half moon that serves for a head (the oval of face outlined) is alert and lovely."
Another version of the piece, made in terracotta, was previously in the collection of Madame Jean Verdier of Cannes. A friend of the artist, Mme. Verdier confirmed that the work was executed during the war years in Nice. It was purchased from the Verdier Collection by the Hirschorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington in 1968.
It seems likely that the present bronze was acquired by Erich Goeritz from Sally Falk in the 1920s.
Both were cast circa 1919 with the present piece inscribed with the date, although Karshan suggests an execution date of 1918, the year previous to the casting. Of the bronze, Karshan writes:
"The first of two highly-abstracted and tapering tower figures, Vase is unprecedented for its time. It is not until Brancusi's Golden Bird of 1919 or his Bird in Space of 1923 that Brancusi reached such soaring, abstracted proportions. Vase also anticipates later surrealistic works of Max Ernst and Henry Moore and thus is a milestone in the vocabulary of modern sculpture for the early decades of this century. The title and form of the work signify woman as a fertile vessel. Frederick S. White has stated: "In 1918 Archipenko modelled Vase Figure (Ray is its variant). Earlier than Brancusi's Bird in Space, it inevitably invites comparison with it. Ray does not celebrate flight, but the amazing erectness of the human body. There is just enough modulation to make plain that it is a figure; it stands with serenity and poise and the half moon that serves for a head (the oval of face outlined) is alert and lovely."
Another version of the piece, made in terracotta, was previously in the collection of Madame Jean Verdier of Cannes. A friend of the artist, Mme. Verdier confirmed that the work was executed during the war years in Nice. It was purchased from the Verdier Collection by the Hirschorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington in 1968.
It seems likely that the present bronze was acquired by Erich Goeritz from Sally Falk in the 1920s.