Head of a Woman

Lachaise, Gaston

1923

Artwork Information

  • Title:

    Head of a Woman

  • Artist:

    Lachaise, Gaston

  • Artist Bio:

    French, 1882–1935

  • Date:

    1923

  • Medium:

    Bronze

  • Dimensions:

    10 1/4 x 9 in.

  • Credit Line:

    Wichita Art Museum, Roland P. Murdock Collection

  • Object Number:

    M19.41

  • Display:

    Not Currently on Display

About the Artwork

In addition to his monumental nudes, Lachaise also executed a number of idealized heads based on Greco-Roman sculpture. With its broad modeling, the hair treated in large masses, the eyes and lips defined with undulating lines, Head initiated a type that was to be widely copied. The technical brilliance and decorative refinement are characteristic of Lachaise’s bronzes. The piece is one of three bronze casts made from a marble version cut in 1918. The other casts are owned by the Newark Museum, New Jersey, and the Gaston Lachaise Foundation.

Gaston Lachaise 1882-1935 Gaston Lachaise was born in Paris. While still a youth he trained there at the Ecole Bernard-Palissy and the Academie Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1906 he left for the United States where he worked, first in Boston with Henry Hudson Kitson and then in New York with Paul Manship. By 1913 his career had begun in earnest.

  1. Letter from Madame Lachaise to Elizabeth S. Navas, undated.