+ Expand
Provenance: (Probably) Sally G. Falk, Geneva; by whom acquired from the artist.
Erich Goeritz, Berlin before 1933 and thence by descent to the present owner.
+ Expand
Exhibited: Tel Aviv, The Tel Aviv Museum (on loan from Erich Goeritz, 1933-1956). Tel Aviv, The Tel Aviv Museum, Archipenko: The Early Works: 1910-1921, The Erich Goeritz Collection at the Tel Aviv Museum, 1981, no. 25 (this cast illustrated).
+ Expand
Literature: Exh. cat., Mostra Individuale di Alexandre Archipenko, Venice, XII Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia, 1920, no. 30/31 (another version illustrated; titled Donna vaso). De Stijl, vol. III, no. 8, June 1920 (another cast illustrated p. 577, pl. X).
Exh. cat., Fünfundneunzigste Ausstellung, Alexander Archipenko, Skulpturen, Skulpto-Malereien, Aquarelle, Tuschzeichnungen, Bleistiftzeichnungen, Berlin, Der Sturm, March, 1921, no. 10 (another version illustrated; titled Frau Vase; dated 1919).
I. Goll (intro.), exh. cat., Alexander Archipenko: Retrospektive Ausstellung, Potsdam, 1921 (another cast illustrated p. 20).
I. Goll, T. Däubler and Blaise Cendrars, Archipenko-Album, Potsdam, 1921 (p.10, pl. 2)
A. Kuhn, Die Neuere Plastik, Munich, 1921 (p. 119, pl. 63)
Exh. cat., Alexander Archipenko - Lyonel Feininger, Frankfurt-am-Main, Kunstsalon Ludwig Schames, May 1922, no. 2 or 3 (another cast illustrated; titled Vase).
F. Gurlitt (ed.), exh. cat., Alexander Archipenko: Zehnte Retrospektive Ausstellung: Skulpturen, Skulptomalerei, Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Lithographien, Berlin, 1922, no. 2 or 3 (titled Vase) L. Schames, Alexander Archipenko, Elfte retrospektive Ausstellung, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1922, no.2 or 3 (another cast illustrated; titled Vase).
L. Mitzich (ed.), Archipenko, Plastik Nouvelle, Belgrade, 1923 (pl. 13).
N. Raynal, A. Archipenko avec 32 reproductions en phototypie, Rome, 1923 (pl. 13).
C. Brinton, exh. cat., The Archipenko Exhibition (under the auspices of the Société Anonyme), Kingore Gallery, New York, 1924, no. 9 (another cast illustrated; titled Small vase).
C. Einstein, Die Kunst der 20. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1926 (p. 543). A. Archipenko (ed.), Archipenko: Fifty Creative Years, 1908-1958, New York, 1960 (this cast illustrated pls. 207 and 228)
F. S. Wight, Retrospective for Archipenko in Art in America, vol. 55, no. 3 (May - June 1967).
D. Karshan, Archipenko, International Visionary, Washington, 1969, (p. 55, pl. 61).
H. Fuchs, Sculpture Contemporaire, Paris, 1970, p. 174 (illustrated).
K. Michaelsen, A Study of the Early Works, 1908 - 1921, New York, 1977, pp. 76 - 77, pl. 87.
K. J. Michaelsen, Archipenko: A Study of the Early Works 1908-1920, New York and London, 1977, no. S87 (titled Vase Woman). D. Karshan (ed.), Tel Aviv Museum (Handbook), Tel Aviv, 1962 (illustrated in the plate of the library view, Dizengoff House).
K.J. Michaelsen and N. Guralnik, exh. cat., Alexander Archipenko: A Centennial Tribute, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1987 (illustrated p. 99).
J. Leshko, exh. cat., Alexander Archipenko: Vision and Continuity, The Ukrainian Museum, New York, 2005 (the terracotta version illustrated p. 89, fig. 59).
+ Expand
Notes: PROPERTY FROM THE ERICH GOERITZ COLLECTION
Donald Karshan notes that only two known bronze versions of Vase Woman I exist, the present cast from the Goeritz Collection and another housed in in private collection which according to the Archipenko Foundation may have been cast at a later date.
Both were cast circa 1919 with the present piece inscribed with the date, although Karshan suggests an execution date of 1918, the year previous to the casting. Of the bronze, Karshan writes:
"The first of two highly-abstracted and tapering tower figures, Vase is unprecedented for its time. It is not until Brancusi's Golden Bird of 1919 or his Bird in Space of 1923 that Brancusi reached such soaring, abstracted proportions. Vase also anticipates later surrealistic works of Max Ernst and Henry Moore and thus is a milestone in the vocabulary of modern sculpture for the early decades of this century. The title and form of the work signify woman as a fertile vessel. Frederick S. White has stated: "In 1918 Archipenko modelled Vase Figure (Ray is its variant). Earlier than Brancusi's Bird in Space, it inevitably invites comparison with it. Ray does not celebrate flight, but the amazing erectness of the human body. There is just enough modulation to make plain that it is a figure; it stands with serenity and poise and the half moon that serves for a head (the oval of face outlined) is alert and lovely."
Another version of the piece, made in terracotta, was previously in the collection of Madame Jean Verdier of Cannes. A friend of the artist, Mme. Verdier confirmed that the work was executed during the war years in Nice. It was purchased from the Verdier Collection by the Hirschorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington in 1968.
It seems likely that the present bronze was acquired by Erich Goeritz from Sally Falk in the 1920s.
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.
We're Hiring!
