.jpg?maxwidth=3840)
Lot 184
Gaston Lachaise (1882-1935)
Two Dolphins [LF 339, LF 340]
Price Realised
USD 25,000
More Information
Specialist note
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.
The present carvings are parts of Gaston Lachaise’s wooden model for a bronze fountain representing a school of fifteen dolphins leaping among the waves [LF 44/LF 319]. The fountain’s design had been copyrighted by the artist in April 1924, and its wooden model illustrated in August 1925, two months after the work had been cast in bronze. In the sculpture’s final state, the dolphins were intended to spout water, and in the case of these two wooden dolphins, their mouths were fitted with metal tubes in order to produce bronze casts suitable for that specific function. Indeed, a large, carefully rendered drawing of the fountain, prepared by Lachaise as part of his copyright application and recently acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, depicts water streaming from the dynamic mammals’ mouths. The wooden model for the fountain had been embellished by Lachaise with paint and gilding, probably for display before it was cast in bronze (a not uncommon practice), and the present carvings retain most of the original surface treatment. The entire model was still intact in Lachaise’s studio in 1928, but no subsequent notice of it is known. Two other single dolphins that once belonged to the wooden model--and which have surfaces comparable to the present examples--are in the collections of The Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation, New York [LF 47], and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [LF 338].
Lachaise’s decision to make a wooden model for the fountain suggests that he had planned to issue a large edition of bronze casts from it, since fine detail can be lost if models made from a less durable material (such as plaster, his typical medium) are repeatedly employed in the casting process. Nonetheless, only two bronze casts of Dolphin Fountain were ever made: they are owned by the Whitney Museum and The Lachaise Foundation, New York.
From 1917 to 1931, Lachaise created three other sculptures on the theme of a flight of dolphins--further testament to both his delight in those fascinating sea creatures, and his dedication to capturing the beauty of their movements in his art. The works are Leaping Dolphins [LF 317], Three Dolphins (Fountain) [LF 143] and Dolphins [LF 318]. The plaster models for the first and third of these bronze sculptures no longer exist; the model for the second, owned by The Lachaise Foundation, was already badly damaged in 1938. From 1925 to 1933, Lachaise also issued a small number of bronze casts of single dolphins that served, for example, as fountains and radiator cap ornaments; the dolphin appearing in all but one of the identified examples closely compares to the wooden model in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The present carvings are parts of Gaston Lachaise’s wooden model for a bronze fountain representing a school of fifteen dolphins leaping among the waves [LF 44/LF 319]. The fountain’s design had been copyrighted by the artist in April 1924, and its wooden model illustrated in August 1925, two months after the work had been cast in bronze. In the sculpture’s final state, the dolphins were intended to spout water, and in the case of these two wooden dolphins, their mouths were fitted with metal tubes in order to produce bronze casts suitable for that specific function. Indeed, a large, carefully rendered drawing of the fountain, prepared by Lachaise as part of his copyright application and recently acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, depicts water streaming from the dynamic mammals’ mouths. The wooden model for the fountain had been embellished by Lachaise with paint and gilding, probably for display before it was cast in bronze (a not uncommon practice), and the present carvings retain most of the original surface treatment. The entire model was still intact in Lachaise’s studio in 1928, but no subsequent notice of it is known. Two other single dolphins that once belonged to the wooden model--and which have surfaces comparable to the present examples--are in the collections of The Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation, New York [LF 47], and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [LF 338].
Lachaise’s decision to make a wooden model for the fountain suggests that he had planned to issue a large edition of bronze casts from it, since fine detail can be lost if models made from a less durable material (such as plaster, his typical medium) are repeatedly employed in the casting process. Nonetheless, only two bronze casts of Dolphin Fountain were ever made: they are owned by the Whitney Museum and The Lachaise Foundation, New York.
From 1917 to 1931, Lachaise created three other sculptures on the theme of a flight of dolphins--further testament to both his delight in those fascinating sea creatures, and his dedication to capturing the beauty of their movements in his art. The works are Leaping Dolphins [LF 317], Three Dolphins (Fountain) [LF 143] and Dolphins [LF 318]. The plaster models for the first and third of these bronze sculptures no longer exist; the model for the second, owned by The Lachaise Foundation, was already badly damaged in 1938. From 1925 to 1933, Lachaise also issued a small number of bronze casts of single dolphins that served, for example, as fountains and radiator cap ornaments; the dolphin appearing in all but one of the identified examples closely compares to the wooden model in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.