Geometric Statuette
Maker
Alexander Archipenko
(Ukrainian, active in France and U.S.A., 1887 - 1964)
Date1914 (model, casting date unknown)
MediumCast bronze
DimensionsWithout base: 27 1/4 x 9 x 6 in. (69.2 x 22.9 x 15.2 cm)
With base: 29-1/8 x 9 x 6 in. (74 x 22.9 x 15.2 cm)
With base: 29-1/8 x 9 x 6 in. (74 x 22.9 x 15.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Paul and Susan Freehling in memory of Mrs. Edna Freehling
Object number2002.73
Object TypeSculpture
On View
Not on viewAfter initial study in Kiev, the Ukrainian-born sculptor Alexander Archipenko moved to Paris in 1908, where several years later he developed a Cubist stylistic idiom. In this cast bronze, dating from that inventive period of activity in France, he conceives the standing female nude primarily as an abstract composition. Geometric forms subdivide the human body into fragmented shapes that create rhythmic interplays of projecting volumes and concave depressions—all held in tenuous balance—that result in independent passages of light and shadow over and around the curved surfaces of the abstracted female figure.
before 5th century B.C.E.
