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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Virginia Budny, author of the forthcoming catalogue raisonné sponsored by the Lachaise Foundation, for her assistance in preparing the catalogue entry for this work.
Gaston Lachaise created the model for the present sculpture in 1922, titling it Head of Woman [LF 35] in reference to his vision of an ideal Woman inspired by his muse and wife, Isabel Dutaud Lachaise, to whom he was devoted. He copyrighted it in 1923. The beautiful subject seems to be encountered in an intimate moment, as indicated by her pensive expression and unbound hair. To make the model, Lachaise developed a mold made from Head [LF 291] (private collection), which represents a young, wide-eyed woman, and which he had directly carved in stone in 1917. This practice of revising an earlier sculpture to make a new one was commonly used by him throughout his career, and here he modified the woman’s features to suggest a mood of quiet introspection.
Lachaise sold the rights to cast Head of Woman [LF 35] in bronze to his dealer, John Kraushaar, owner of the C.W. Kraushaar Art Gallery in New York City, while reserving the right for his wife to make a cast for herself in the event of his death. The first cast was made in 1923, and by 1928, a total of six, all produced by the Roman Bronze Works Foundry, had been sold by Kraushaar. They are now owned by a private collector; the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida; another private collector; the Whitney Museum of America Art, the Newark Museum of Art; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Afterward, a cast produced by an unknown foundry was acquired by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, evidently from the Kraushaar Gallery, and donated by her to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1939. The sculpture was first referred to as Egyptian Head in 1928, evidently by Kraushaar, and that name became the one by which it is now generally known.
The Lachaise Foundation, which was established in 1963 and oversees the artist’s estate, issued an edition of six numbered casts made from Lachaise’s model over the next ten years, including the present work, and an Artist’s Proof in 2012. All of these were produced by the Modern Art Foundry, New York. The earliest known record for the present example states that it was at the foundry but not yet polished in March 1966. It was completed by January 1967, and first exhibited in the following September. Like most of the other casts of Head of Woman, the present work is selectively patinated, recording Lachaise’s delight in enhancing his sculptures with coloristic effects.
Gaston Lachaise created the model for the present sculpture in 1922, titling it Head of Woman [LF 35] in reference to his vision of an ideal Woman inspired by his muse and wife, Isabel Dutaud Lachaise, to whom he was devoted. He copyrighted it in 1923. The beautiful subject seems to be encountered in an intimate moment, as indicated by her pensive expression and unbound hair. To make the model, Lachaise developed a mold made from Head [LF 291] (private collection), which represents a young, wide-eyed woman, and which he had directly carved in stone in 1917. This practice of revising an earlier sculpture to make a new one was commonly used by him throughout his career, and here he modified the woman’s features to suggest a mood of quiet introspection.
Lachaise sold the rights to cast Head of Woman [LF 35] in bronze to his dealer, John Kraushaar, owner of the C.W. Kraushaar Art Gallery in New York City, while reserving the right for his wife to make a cast for herself in the event of his death. The first cast was made in 1923, and by 1928, a total of six, all produced by the Roman Bronze Works Foundry, had been sold by Kraushaar. They are now owned by a private collector; the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida; another private collector; the Whitney Museum of America Art, the Newark Museum of Art; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Afterward, a cast produced by an unknown foundry was acquired by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, evidently from the Kraushaar Gallery, and donated by her to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1939. The sculpture was first referred to as Egyptian Head in 1928, evidently by Kraushaar, and that name became the one by which it is now generally known.
The Lachaise Foundation, which was established in 1963 and oversees the artist’s estate, issued an edition of six numbered casts made from Lachaise’s model over the next ten years, including the present work, and an Artist’s Proof in 2012. All of these were produced by the Modern Art Foundry, New York. The earliest known record for the present example states that it was at the foundry but not yet polished in March 1966. It was completed by January 1967, and first exhibited in the following September. Like most of the other casts of Head of Woman, the present work is selectively patinated, recording Lachaise’s delight in enhancing his sculptures with coloristic effects.