Lot 327: OSSIP ZADKINE

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Description: 1890-1967
FEMME DEBOUT

measurements
height: 30 1/4 in.

alternate measurements
77 cm

Conceived in 1922 and cast during the artist's lifetime.

Inscribed and numbered O. Zadkine 2/5

Bronze, golden brown patina

This work is recorded in the archives of the Musée Zadkine, Paris.

PROVENANCE

Valentine Prax, Paris (the widow of the artist)
René Verdier, Paris
Artcurial, Paris
Private Collection, Switzerland

EXHIBITED

Paris, Artcurial, Zadkine, 1979
Lugano, Galeria Pieter Coray, Il Cubismo nella Scultura, 1988, no. 22, Illustrated in color p. 45
Verona, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea; Milan, Palazzo della Permanente, Modigliani a Montparnasse, July 1988 - January 1989, illustrated in the catalogue p. 135

LITERATURE

Musée Zadkine, Sculptures, Paris, 1989, cat. 18, another cast (3/5) illustrated p. 39

NOTE

Following in the footsteps of Picasso and Léger (fig. 1), Zadkine moved past a rigorous interpretation of Cubism by the time the present work was conceived. Zadkine declared, "As soon as I freed myself from Cubism, my work showed a return to something which has always given me pleasure, a return to the visible object, to the complete transformation of Nature. Underlying my creations, there is a sense of freedom, freedom to create a whole world thanks to my having rediscovered the true nature of my own personality." (Ionel Jianou, Zadkine, Paris, 1964, p. 38)

The solid, hieratic structure of Femme debout also expresses Zadkine's interest in primitive African sculpture. He constructs the human body through geometric forms arranged in a rhythmic manner. This play of concave and convex shapes creates an undulating surface that brings out the rough quality of the material used and displays Zadkine's unique vision.

Fig. 1 Fernand Léger, Nu sur fond rouge, 1927, oil on canvas, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn Foundation, 1972