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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Virginia Budny, author of the forthcoming catalogue raisonné sponsored by the Lachaise Foundation, for her assistance in preparing the catalogue entry for this work.
An extraordinary example of early twentieth-century American Modernist portraiture, Gaston Lachaise’s statuette of Isabel Dutaud Lachaise (1872-1957), his muse and recent bride, conveys his delight in her commanding presence and stylish appearance. Four bronze casts are known to have been made during Lachaise’s lifetime, all produced by the Roman Bronze Works, New York. The selectively nickel-plated, lost-wax cast made in May 1925 now belongs to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. Another, made by early 1927, has been in a private collection since 1974. After those two casts were made, Lachaise revised the head of the plaster model used in the casting process, and that new version was used for making the subsequent casts. The present lost-wax cast was made in 1929 for Duncan Spencer (1897-1979). The fourth, a polished sand cast, was made in 1931.
Since 1964, seven numbered Estate casts of a projected edition of nine have been issued by the Lachaise Foundation. These include the examples owned by The Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, Florida (1/9); the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (4/9); the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts (5/9); and the Lachaise Foundation, New York (7/9). The artist's revised plaster model is owned by the Lachaise Foundation.
An extraordinary example of early twentieth-century American Modernist portraiture, Gaston Lachaise’s statuette of Isabel Dutaud Lachaise (1872-1957), his muse and recent bride, conveys his delight in her commanding presence and stylish appearance. Four bronze casts are known to have been made during Lachaise’s lifetime, all produced by the Roman Bronze Works, New York. The selectively nickel-plated, lost-wax cast made in May 1925 now belongs to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. Another, made by early 1927, has been in a private collection since 1974. After those two casts were made, Lachaise revised the head of the plaster model used in the casting process, and that new version was used for making the subsequent casts. The present lost-wax cast was made in 1929 for Duncan Spencer (1897-1979). The fourth, a polished sand cast, was made in 1931.
Since 1964, seven numbered Estate casts of a projected edition of nine have been issued by the Lachaise Foundation. These include the examples owned by The Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, Florida (1/9); the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (4/9); the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts (5/9); and the Lachaise Foundation, New York (7/9). The artist's revised plaster model is owned by the Lachaise Foundation.