UNCONVENTIONAL
FIGURES SEPTEMBER 2020
Works on Paper to Sculptures in Bronze This September, the featured work of Unconventional Figures highlights the different media used by sculptors, from finished drawings on paper to final casts in bronze. Henry Moore created many works on paper, and even the vastly different Seated Nude (1929) and Drawing for a Metal Sculpture (1935) demonstrate his easy facility with the three dimensional. The brilliantly spare perspective of the seated contrapposto in Seated Nude constrasts with the multiple views that are carefully rendered in Drawing for a Metal Sculpture, in which the crayon and pastel shapes approach the very edges of the paper, hovering in a delicate grid formation. Conversely, Lynn Chadwick—Moore’s younger contemporary—produced very few drawings, as his standard method of creation was to improvise and weld metal without a specific plan in place. Chadwick’s Composition (1961), therefore, is a strikingly unusual piece that gives insight into his distinctive representation of the body. Aristide Maillol’s figures are more classical, paying homage to ancient, idealized bodies while emphasizing a sense of the monumental that was particular to then-contemporary sculpture. His drawings of Dina Vierny, his model and muse, are gentle renderings that informed the weighty, polished bronzes for which Maillol is renowned. Etude pour Harmonie (1940) is a study for his final masterpiece, which he worked on throughout the Second World War, but never finished.
Frank Dobson, an English artist, was heavily influenced by Maillol and his drawing Two Women (1943) robustly depicts the female form in motion, emphasizing vitality and sensuality. His relationship to the work of Maillol is clear, from his voluptuous figures to his use of red chalk, which vividly constrasts with the highlights in white. The sculptures in Unconventional Figures are as dynamically varied as the works on paper; the American sculptor Reuben Nakian completely abstracted the form of his 1983 bronze Moon Goddess, presenting a subject of antiquity mediated by the raw texture of material. In a seemingly more academic approach, Baltasar Lobo’s Torse inclinÊ en avant sur socle (1982) references the classical figure while approaching the female nude with minimalist abstraction. From the beginning to the end of the century, sculptors experimented across media with the constraints of classical depiction, turning the subject of the figure into an ample site for innovation.
Artworks from left to right: Henry Moore, Drawing for a Metal Sculpture; Lynn Chadwick, Composition; Aristide Maillol, Dina de Face and Etude pour Harmonie.
HENRY MOORE Drawing for a Metal Sculpture, 1935 Colored crayon and pastel on paper 14.75 x 21.9 in. (37.5 x 55.5 cm) Signed and dated Moore 35 lower center-left. LITERATURE
Melville, Robert. Henry Moore: Sculpture and Drawings, 1921–69 (London: Thames & Hudson, 1970), no. 132. PROVENANCE
Acquired from the artist Gimpel Fils, London Rosenberg & Co., New York
LYNN CHADWICK Composition, 1961 Acrylic, watercolor, and ink on paper 25.5 x 18 in. (64.8 x 45.7 cm) Signed and dated Chadwick 61 lower right. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Dr. Sarah Marchant. PROVENANCE
Private collection, Switzerland Osborne Samuel, London Rosenberg & Co., New York
ARISTIDE MAILLOL Dina de face, 1940 Pastel on paper 10.5 x 17.25 in. (26.67 x 43.8 cm) Monogrammed lower right. This drawing is accompanied by a letter from Dina Vierny stating that she is the sitter and that it was drawn around noon in France in 1940–41. An invoice note written by Klaus G. Perls states that the drawing is from the collection of Dina Vierny, the artist’s model. PROVENANCE
Collection of Dina Vierny, Paris Perls Galleries, New York Private collection, New York Private collection Rosenberg & Co., New York
ARISTIDE MAILLOL Etude pour Harmonie, 1940 Sanguine chalk on paper 11.2 x 7.9 in. (28.5 x 20 cm) This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Olivier Lorquin. PROVENANCE
Private collection, Nice Collection of Pierre and Alexandre Lorquin, Paris Rosenberg & Co., New York
Artworks from left to right: Aristide Maillol, Dina de Face and Etude pour Harmonie; Béla Kádár, Two figures; Henry Moore, Seated Nude; Frank Dobson, Two Women.
BÉLA KÁDÁR Two figures, c. 1930 Gouache on paper 9 x 11.8 in. (23 x 30 cm) Signed KÁDÁR BÉLA lower right. The authenticity of this work as been confirmed by Miklos von Bartha. PROVENANCE
Private collection, US Rosenberg & Co., New York
HENRY MOORE Seated Nude, 1929 Pen, ink, charcoal, chalk, and wash on paper 16.9 x 13.3 in. (42.9 x 33.8 cm) Signed Moore lower left. This work is recorded in the Moore archive as AG.29.18/HMF 703a. LITERATURE
Garrould, Ann. Henry Moore: Complete Drawings 1916–1929, Vol. 1 (London: Lund Humphries, 1996), p. 213, no. AG 29.18. PROVENANCE
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rowland Howarth, UK Osborne Samuel, London Rosenberg & Co., New York
FRANK DOBSON Two Women, 1943 Mixed media on paper 12.25 x 16 in. (31.1 x 40.6 cm) Signed and dated Frank Dobson/43 lower center. PROVENANCE
Hammet Gallery, London Collection of the Honorable Mrs. D. Lambton, UK Private collection, UK Robin Katz Fine Art, London Rosenberg & Co., New York
Artworks from left to right: Baltasar Lobo, Torse inclinĂŠ en avant sur socle Reuben Nakian, Moon Goddess Alexander Archipenko, Standing Nude Giacomo ManzĂš, Testa di ragazza
BALTASAR LOBO
Torse incliné en avant sur socle, 1976–81, cast 1982 Bronze 13.4 x 8.6 x 7.25 in. (34 x 21.9 x 18.4 cm) Signed and numbered 0/3. Stamped with Susse Foundry Mark. LITERATURE
Muller, J. Lobo Catalogue Raisonné de L’oeuvre Sculpte (Paris: La Bibliotheque des Arts, 1985), no. 425. PROVENANCE
Estate of the artist Connaught Brown, London Rosenberg & Co., New York
REUBEN NAKIAN Moon Goddess, 1983 Bronze, 1/9 8 x 10.25 x 4.5 in. (20.3 x 26 x 11.4 cm) PROVENANCE
Atelier Nakian, Stamford Rosenberg & Co., New York
ALEXANDER ARCHIPENKO Standing Nude, 1922 (conceived 1921) Bronze 26 x 5.5 x 6.25 in. (66 x 14 x 15.9 cm)
Private collection
GIACOMO MANZÙ Testa di ragazza, 1983 Bronze 15.35 x 8.5 x 8.25 in. (39 x 22 x 21 cm)
Private collection