Female Torso 2

Details

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891-1915)
Female Torso 2
bronze with a dark green patina
8¼ in. (21 cm.) high excluding marble base
Conceived in 1913.
Sold with the original receipt from Roland, Browse and Delbanco.

Provenance

Purchased by Sir Colin Anderson from Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London, 1946.

Literature

H.S. Ede, A Life of Gaudier-Brzeska, London, 1930, p. 205.
H. Brodzky, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, London, 1933, another cast illustrated opposite p. 16.
E. Pound, Gaudier-Brzeska con un manifesto vorticista, Milan, 1957, no. 7, another cast illustrated.
E. Pound, Gaudier-Brzeska, London, 1960, pl. XIX, another cast illustrated.
M. Levy, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska: Drawings and Sculpture, New York, 1965, p. 29, pl. 68, another cast illustrated.
H. Materer, 'Henri Gaudier's "Three Ninas"', Paideuma, 4, 2-3, 1975, pp. 323-4.
R. Cole, Burning to speak The life and art of Henri Gaudier Brzeska, Oxford, 1978, p. 79, no. 30, another cast illustrated.
E. Silber, Gaudier-Brzeska Life and Art with a Catalogue Raisonné of the Sculpture, London, 1996, p. 264, no. 59.4.

Exhibited

London, The Leicester Galleries, A Memorial Exhibition of the work of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, May - June 1918, no. 8, plaster exhibited.
London, The Old Court House of St Marylebone, J. and E. Bumpus, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska: An Exhibition of Drawings and Statues reproduced in "Henri Gaudier-Brzeska" by H.S. Ede, April - May 1931, no. 30, another cast exhibited.
Leeds, Temple Newsam, Roy de Maistre and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, June - August 1943, nos. 68 and 69, other casts exhibited.
London, Tate Gallery, Seventeen Collectors An exhibition of paintings and sculpture from the private collections of members of the Executive Committee of the Contemporary Art Society, March - April 1952, no. 220.
Cardiff, Cardiff Gallery, Sculptures, Paintings and Drawings by Gaudier-Brzeska July - August 1953, no. 10, another cast exhibited.
Orleans, Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléns, Henri Gaudier, Sculpteur Orlénais, March - April 1956, plaster exhibited.
Arts Council of Great Britain, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska: Sculpture, Pastels and Drawings, 1956, nos. 4 and 5, other casts exhibited.
Bielefeld, Kunsthalle der Stadt Bielefeld, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska Sculptures, Drawings, Letters and Manifestors, 1969, no. 4, another cast exhibited.
Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska Sculptures 1972 with a selection of drawings from Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, August - September 1972, no. 24: this exhibition travelled to Leeds, City Art Gallery, September - October 1972; Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, October - November 1972.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

'Gaudier made a clay model from which two plasters were cast; the clay model and one plaster were given to Alfred Wolmark and the second plaster, which had one breast damaged, was given to Horace Brodzky. Twelve bronzes have been cast from the Wolmark plaster (of which this is one) and three from the Brodzky plaster. The model for these torsos is said to have been Nina Hamnett, who refers to them in her book "Laughing Torso"' (see exhibition catalogue, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska Sculptures with a selection of drawings from Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1972, p. 21). However, Evelyn Silber notes that 3 bronzes were cast from Brodzky's chipped plaster, including one in collection of the Tate Gallery, and only 5 bronzes were cast from the Wolmark unchipped plaster, including one in the collection of Kettle's Yard, Cambridge (loc. cit.).

Gaudier probably met the painter, Nina Hamnett, at the Allied Artists exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in July 1913. The two artists posed for each other and formed a close friendship. Hamnett was the model for Brzeska's Dancer (Silber, no. 58) and also Torso I (Silber, no. 61) and Torso 3 (Silber, no. 60).

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