The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Figure

Figure

c. 1924–26
(American, 1882–1935)
America, 20th century
pencil
Sheet: 48.4 x 30.4 cm (19 1/16 x 11 15/16 in.)
Anonymous Gift 1964.465
Location: not on view

Description

Lachaise's highly personal sculptures of voluptuous nudes, inspired by his wife Isabel Nagel, display his idealized conception of the female figure with full, rounded breasts, arms, and thighs surrounding a delicate, slender waist. The artist's drawings, in which a single unmodulated line describes contour, are spontaneous and direct. Although this drawing was not a study for a sculpture, the figure has a three-dimensional quality suggested by the changes in the width of the line. Lachaise's drawings, like his sculptures, are dazzling combinations of force and grace, simultaneously heroic and erotic.
  • 1964
    (The Weyhe Gallery, New York, NY)
    1964
    Martha L. Dickinson, New York, NY
    December 19, 1964
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 52, no. 9 (1965) p. 156, no. 134 www.jstor.org
  • Changing Dimensions: Works on Paper by Sculptors. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1995-January 24, 1996).
    Cleveland Museum of Art, 1995-1996: Changing Dimensions: Works on Paper by Sculptors: November 22, 1995-January 24, 1996, no cat.
    Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1991-January 12, 1992).
    America Draws. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1984-March 17, 1985).
    Prints and Drawings, 1916-1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 20-July 24, 1966).
    Year in Review: 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 14, 1965).
  • {{cite web|title=Figure|url=false|author=Gaston Lachaise|year=c. 1924–26|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.465