Alexander Archipenko - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale New York Wednesday, November 16, 2016 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Private Collection (acquired directly from the artist in 1962)
    Thence by descent to the present owner in 2000

  • Exhibited

    Geneva, Kundig Library; Kunsthaus Zurich, Tournée de l’Exposition de Sculptures, Sculpto-Peintures, Peintures, Dessins de Alexandre Archipenko November 24, 1919 - February 8, 1920 (terracotta example exhibited, titled as Statuette)
    Venice, XII Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d’Arte, Mostra Individuale di Alexandre Archipenko, September - November, 1920, no. 23 (terracotta example exhibited, titled as Statuetta)
    Potsdam, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Alexander Archipenko, Retrospektive Ausstellung 1921, no. 11 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Frau)
    Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Art Institute Chicago; San Diego Museum; Oakland Museum; Portland Art Museum, Western U. S. Cities Tour of the Exhibition of the Works of Alexander Archipenko, 1927, no. 28 (another example exhibited, titled as Statuette)
    New York, Nierendorf Gallery, Alexander Archipenko Sculpture Paintings Drawings 50th One Man Show in U.S.A. Works from 1909 - 1944, January 18 - February 5, 1944 (terracotta example exhibited, titled as Statuette)
    New York, Associated American Artists Galleries, Archipenko 110th Exhibition, 50 Years Production, October 16 - November 14, 1954, no. 6 (terracotta example exhibited, titled as Standing Figure)
    New York, Perls Gallery, Alexander Archipenko: Bronzes, September 29 - October 24, 1959, no. 10 (another example exhibited, titled as Statue on Triangular Base)
    Hagen, Karl-Ernst Osthaus Museum; Saarbrücken, Saarlandmuseum; Munich, Freie Künstelergemeinschaft Schanze e.V.; Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf; Archipenko, 50 Jahre seines Schaffens, March 20 - December 4, 1960, no. 11 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Statue auf dreieckiger Basis)
    London, Grosvenor Gallery, Alexander Archipenko Sculpture and Sculpto-Painting, 1909-1921, June 20 - July 11, 1961, no. 11 (another example exhibited, titled as Statue on Triangular Base)
    Antwerp, Kunsthistorische Musea, Openlucht Museum, 6e Biennale voor Beeldhouwkunst, July 15 – October 15, 1961, no. 308 (another example exhibited, titled as Figure avec Socle triangulaire)
    The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Alexander Archipenko Exhibition, January 14 – January 31, 1962, no. 14, p. 9 (another example exhibited, titled as Statue of three-cornered Base)
    St. Gallen, Galerie Im Erker, Alexander Archipenko, November 17, 1962 – January 10, 1963, no. 12, pl. 6, p. 32 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Statue on threecornered Base)
    Rome, Palazzo Barberini, Alexander Archipenko, April 10 – May 20, 1963, no. 12 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Statua se Base triangolare)
    Milan, Centro Culturale San Fedele, Mostra Antologica di Archipenko, November 5 – November 30, 1963, no. 12 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Statua su base triangulare)
    Munich, Galerie Stangl, Alexander Archipenko, Skulpturen and Zeichnungen, February 14 – April 4, 1964, no. 12, pl. 12 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Statue auf dreieckigem Sockel)
    Los Angeles, UCLA Art Museum; Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego; Phoenix Art Museum; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; Minneapolis, Walker Art Center; Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago; St. Louis, Washington University; Washington, D.C., National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institute; Cincinnati Art Museum; Colorado Springs Art Center; Utica, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Alexander Archipenko: A Memorial Exhibition, February 26, 1967 - January 1, 1969, no. 20, p. 46 (another example exhibited and illustrated)
    Lyon, Madeleine Rocher-Jauneau Musée des Beaux Arts; Rennes, Musée des Beaux Arts ; Nantes, Musée des Beaux Arts , Archipenko International Visionary, April 25 – August 31, 1969, no. 19 (another example exhibited, titled as Statue sur socle triangulaire)
    The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Partial Figure in Modern Sculpture: From Rodin to 1969, December 2, 1969 – February 1, 1970, no. 19 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Statue auf dreieckiger Basis)
    New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Archipenko: The Parisian Years, July 20, 1970 – October 18, 1972, no. 10 (another example exhibited and illustrated)
    Tel Aviv Museum, The Early Works: 1910-1921, The Erich Goeritz Collection at the Tel Aviv Museum, April – September, 1981, cat no. 15 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Statuette)
    Danville, The Norton Center for the Arts, Archipenko: Sculpture, Drawings and Prints, 1908-1963, As Collected, Viewed and Documented by Donald Karshan, March 23 – May 6, 1985, no. 25 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Statuette)
    Saarbrücken, Saarlandmuseum, Alexander Archipenko, August 31 – October 26, 1986, no. 26 (another example exhibited and illustrated, titled as Statue auf dreieckigem Sockel)
    Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; Tel Aviv, Alexander Archipenko: A Centennial Tribute, November 16, 1986 – February 16, 1987, no. 15 (another example exhibited and illustrated)

  • Literature

    Les Soirées de Paris, Paris, no. 25, June 15, 1914, p. 347 (plaster version illustrated)
    Ivan Goll, "Archipenko", Horizont, no. 26, Vienna, 1921, p. 78 (plaster version illustrated)
    Hans Hildebrandt, Alexander Archipenko, Berlin, 1923, pl. 19, p. 13 (plaster version illustrated)
    Lioubomir Mitzich, ed., Archipenko, Plastique Nouvelle, Belgrade, 1923, pl. 7 (plaster version illustrated)
    Alexander Archipenko, Fifty Creative Years, New York, 1960, pl. 143 (plaster version illustrated)
    Donald H. Karshan ed., Archipenko: International Visionary, exh. cat., Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 1969, no. 19, pl. 62, p. 55 (illustrated)
    Donald H. Karshan, Archipenko: Sculpture, Drawings and Prints 1908-1963, Danville, Kentucky, 1985, no. 25, p. 72 (illustrated)
    Anette Barth, Alexander Archipenkos plastisches Oeuvre, vol. 2, Frankfurt am Main, 1997, no. 58, p. 133 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    Alexander Archipenko’s innovative integration of synthetic cubism’s simple geometric shapes and interlocking planes with natural cadences is exemplified in Statue on a Triangular Base. Created at the height of his Parisian period, the sculpture highlights Archipenko’s use of concave and convex forms and his refinement of the plastic arts. From the front, the sculpture disappears into flat connecting planes flowing through opposing diagonals from the triangle base to the cone-like head and angular arm. As you look closer, the two-dimensionality gives way to voluminous forms. It is this tension between two opposing forces that provides the sculpture’s energy, movement and spirit.

    As the artist himself observed, “In order to explain the spiritual value of my concave, we must consider the psychological side of this new sculptural element. It is evident that in sculpture each point of the surface should have meaning and be related to millions of other points of the surface. Likewise, relief and concave are reciprocally integrated…So in my sculpture, all concaves have optical and psychological significance.” (Archipenko, Fifty Creative Years, p. 21)

    Archipenko’s Parisian years (1908-1921) are often cited as his most productive and “heroic” period. During this time, he established himself as an innovator of cubist sculpture and sculptural form, developing a new method of “controlling space.” (Archipenko, Fifty Creative Years, p. 28) His experimentations with space, such as the use of concave and convex forms to abstract a human figure, coupled with his use of negative space, are among his lasting contributions to modern sculpture.

    When he arrived in Paris from his native Kiev, Cubism was on the rise. The visual language developed by Picasso and Braque had a concentrated group of followers who were keen to push the stylistic boundaries. Archipenko met and exhibited with this group of pioneering artists, such as Sonia Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Albert Gleizes, Jean Metzinger and Fernand Léger, both at “La Ruche,” the artist’s colony in Montmartre where he first lived, as well as in the Salon des Indépendants where he exhibited from 1910-1914.

    Archipenko’s unique style was not only a product of his association with the Parisian avant-garde. While the Cubist paintings and papier collés of Picasso and Braque had a profound impact on his work, Archipenko’s oeuvre was also deeply affected by his study of Egyptian, Greek and Gothic works, as well as the Byzantine mosaics of his homeland. As Katherine Kuh wrote in her essay to the Museum of Modern Art’s seminal exhibition Archipenko: The Parisian Years:

    "Long applauded as a pioneer Cubist sculptor, he was far more than that. He never merely transferred Cubist theories from painting to sculpture; he virtually invented his own kind of three-dimensional Cubism. Relying on the human body, preferably the female nude, as his point of departure, Archipenko constructed his figures with architectural precision, yet rarely sacrificed the rhythms of nature. His idealized women have the elongated elegance we sometimes associate with undulating plants, sometimes with those Gothic saints which echo the soaring churches they decorate."

36

Statue on Triangular Base

incised with the artist's name, number and date "Archipenko 1914 3/6" on the base
patinated bronze
30 x 7 1/2 x 6 in. (76.2 x 19.1 x 15.2 cm.)
Conceived in 1914 and cast in 1960, this work is number 3 from an edition of 6. The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Frances Archipenko Gray.

Estimate
$350,000 - 450,000 

Sold for $394,000

Contact Specialist
Kate Bryan
Head of Evening Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1267

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 16 November 5 PM EST