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Woman (Elevation)

A work made of bronze.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of bronze.

Date:

Modeled 1912–15, cast 1927

Artist:

Gaston Lachaise
American, born France, 1882–1935

About this artwork

Born in France, Gaston Lachaise immigrated to the United States when he was 24 years old. He modeled Woman (Elevation) after Isabel Dutaud Nagle, whom he married in 1917, telling her, “I want to create a miracle with it… as great as you.” Although it definitely evokes his subject’s appearance, this sculpture represents Lachaise’s first full-scale expression of the idealized female form that would come to dominate his art. The figure’s long legs support a voluptuous torso that recalls ancient fertility goddesses and a disproportionally small waist that accentuates her ample hips and breasts. Modernists like Lachaise were fascinated by preclassical art because they believed it possessed a primitive vitality absent from later art forms.

Status

On View, Gallery 272

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Gaston Lachaise

Title

Woman (Elevation)

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Modeled 1912–1915

Medium

Bronze

Inscriptions

Cast on base: G. Lachaise © 1927

Dimensions

With base: 182.9 × 71.1 × 43.2 cm (72 1/16 × 28 × 17 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Friends of American Art Collection

Reference Number

1943.580

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/58839/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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