An alabaster sculpture on a square black base.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The sculpture in white alabaster shows a nude woman kneeling, her body is arched so the top of her head touches her toes. The form is rounded, her thighs slope upward to her stomach. Her large breasts point to the right. Her arms are bent to frame her head. Her hair is yellowish brown. The sculpture sits on a square, shiny, black base.

Gallery Text

The objects in this case present different visions of the female body. Statuette or vessel, funerary offering or object of worship, decorative feature or conscious work of art, they would have elicited very different — though not mutually exclusive — responses when seen in their original contexts. Some called for symbolic or religious understanding and were used in ritual, such as the Cycladic figure; others invited their viewers to reconstruct a narrative scenario, such as the Aphrodite binding her sandal; whereas yet others offered visceral aesthetic, sensual, and perhaps even tactile delight. One of the bodies here — Lachaise’s Woman Bending Backward — is not from the ancient world, but, like many other European and American works, depends very much on Greco-Roman models and ideals, even as it distances itself from them, for example with a pose not known from representations of women in antiquity.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1995.191
People
Gaston Lachaise, American (Paris, France 1882 - 1935 New York, NY)
Title
Woman Bending Backward
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1926
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/232258

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3200, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Classical Sculpture
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Alabaster
Technique
Carved
Dimensions
12.7 x 22.9 x 10.2 cm (5 x 9 x 4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: On base: G.Lachaise, Signed Date: 1926

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Artist, sold; to Georgia O'Keeffe, acquired by 1929; Lois Orswell, acquired 1946(?), gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1995.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell
Accession Year
1995
Object Number
1995.191
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 95, fig. 33, pp. 74-75, 325, 373

Exhibition History

  • 20th Century Abstract Painting and Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, 04/16/1947 - 05/18/1947
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/21/2002 - 02/16/2003
  • 32Q: 3200 West Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu