Cubism sculpture

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ART HISTORY 4450 Cubism: Sculpture

Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964) •

biography: – 1887  born in Kiev, Ukraine – 1906  moves to Moscow – 1908  leaves for Paris – 1914-18  WWI spent in south of FR – 1921  moves to Berlin – 1923  emigrates to USA – 1935  moves to Los Angeles, CA – 1937  moves to Chicago

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exhibition history: – 1910  Salon des Indépendents and Salon d’Automne w/ Cubists – 1912  founding member “La Section d’Or” • in company of Duchamp, Picasso, & Apollinaire – 1913  Armory Show (NYC)

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aesthetic: abstract – negative space – simultaneous views – sculptural voids

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Archipenko

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Suzanne (1909) –

aesthetic: abstract

• broad, flat planes • visually assembles into coherent whole –

form: massive

– surface texture: rough, unfinished – composition: dynamic gestures – spatial order: negative space between torso & arm

(Left) Picasso’s Analytical Cubist Three Women (1908) vs. (right) Archipenko’s Susan (1909)

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ARCHIPENKO’s Cubist Woman Combing Her Hair (1915)

Julio Gonzalez (1876-1942)

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Woman Combing Her Hair – – –

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date: c. 1930-33 aesthetic: abstract medium: ready-made bars, sheets, or rods of welded or wrought iron and bronze forms: delicate, flattened masses spatial order: positive and negative composition: dynamic • interplay of curves, lines, and planes • suggests temporal simultaneity

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Jacques Lipchitz (1891‐1973) •

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biography: – French sculptor of Russian birth – father (Jewish building contractor) opposed his son becoming an artist – sympathetic mother arranged for him to go to Paris in 1909 training: – no formal training – studied briefly at Ecole des Beaux‐Arts – transferred to Académie Julian • mornings drawing & modeling from life • afternoons in museums career: – early work (1910‐15) • nudes • Portraits – Cubist phase (1915‐25)

Lipchitz

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Standing Person (1915‐16) – – –

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medium: limestone surface texture: smooth composition: arrangement difficult to visually assemble into coherent whole • stabilized by vertical orientation figure: abstracted • “building up and composing idea of a human figure from abstract sculptural elements of line, plane and volume” forms: • broad, flat planes • simplified shapes (cones, rectangles) • delicate mass/weight spatial order: includes negative space perspective: multiplicity of views

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Lipchitz

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Man w/ Guitar (1917) – medium: limestone – surface texture: smooth – composition: dynamic • crisp diagonals • curvilinear forms – perspective: multiplicity of views – figure: deconstructed • broad, flat planes • convincing mass/weight • includes physiognomic details (e.g., eyes, fingers) • yet arrangement of forms difficult to visually assemble into coherent whole

Lipchitz •

Seated Man w/ Guitar (1922) – medium: limestone – surface texture: smooth – composition: compact • circular orientation • cubic block – perspective: multiplicity of views – figure: abstracted • physiognomy becomes less identifiable, simplified • broad, flat planes • convincing mass/weight • reintegrated into dimensional space

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Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) •

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biography: – Romanian; son of poor peasants – ran away from home at age 13 – age 18, enrolled at School of Crafts training: moved to Paris – Ecole des Beaux-Arts (1903-05) – invited to enter workshop of Rodin • left R’s studio after only 2 months • “Nothing can grow under big trees” aesthetic: abstract – non-literal representation – aim to depict "not the outer form but the idea, the essence of things” – relatively small body of work • 215 sculptures, of which about 50 lost or destroyed exhibition history: 1913 – Salon des Independants (Paris) – Armory Show (NYC)

Brancusi

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The Kiss (1908) – –

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theme: Classical form: abstract • cubic emphasis • simplification of musculature and facial features • rounded masses – deviates from Picasso’s emphasis on 2‐d planes that flattening space spatial order: no use of negative space texture: differentiates flesh from hair

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(Left) RODIN’s The Kiss (1889) vs. (right) BRANCUSI’s The Kiss (1908)

Brancusi •

Bird in Space (1923) – – –

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medium: bronze form: simple, organic shapes theme: based on "Maiastra” • Romanian folklore • beautiful golden bird who foretells future and cures the blind anecdote: • purchased in 1926 by Steichen • U.S. customs officers did not accept the “bird” as a work of art • placed duty upon its import as an industrial item; charged high tax • next year Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (founder of Whitney Museum) financed S’s lawsuit – case revolved around question of 'What is art?’

– assessment overturned provenance: sold in 2005 for $27.5M • record for sculpture sold in auction

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Brancusi

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Endless Column (1938) – – – –

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scale: monumental (96 ¼ ft. high) medium: cast iron composition: seventeen (17) rhombus‐ shaped modules form: based on symbolism of “axis mundi” • stylization of funerary pillars used in southern Romania function: tribute to Romanians who died in WWI • in 1950s, Romanian communist gov’t considered it an example of “bourgeois” sculpture; planned to demolish it restoration: 1998‐2000

IMAGE INDEX • Slide 2: • Slide 3: • Slide 4: • Slide 5/6: • Slide 7: • Slide 8: • • • •

Slide 9: Slide 10: Slide 11: Slide 12:

Photograph of ARCHIPENKO. ARCHIPENKO, Aleksandr. Suzanne (1909), Limestone, 15 3/8 x 10 x 8 5/8 in., Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA. (Left) Picasso’s Analytical Cubist Three Women (1908); and (right) Archipenko’s Susan (1909) ARCHIPENKO, Aleksandr. Woman Combing Her Hair (1915), Bronze, approx. 1’1 ¾” high, Tate Gallery, London.

RIVERA, Diego. Portrait of Jacques Lipchitz (1914).

LIPCHITZ, Jacques. Standing Person (1915‐16), limestone, 98 x 28 x 18 cm., Tate Gallery, London.

LIPCHITZ, Jacques. Man with Guitar (1917).

LIPCHITZ, Jacques. Seated Man with Guitar (1922).

STEICHEN, Edward. Photograph of Brancusi (1922).

BRANCUSI, Constantin. The Kiss (1908), Limestone, 23 x 13 ¾ x 10 ¾ in., The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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IMAGE INDEX • Slide 13: • Slide 14:

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(Left) RODIN’s The Kiss (1889); and (right) BRANCUSI’s The Kiss (1908).

BRANCUSI, Constantin. Bird in Space (1923), bronze, with base 56 ¾ in. high, 6 ½ in. diameter, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

BRANCUSI, Constantin. Endless Column (1938).

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