Gaston Lachaise (1882-1935)

The plaster model for Head of a Woman was derived from a Tennessee marble head carved by Gaston Lachaise in 1917, first exhibited (as Bust) in early 1918, and sold in 1922 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts). That sculpture--and hence the subsequent plaster--was shaped according to an analytical, modernist aesthetic. Lachaise made two bronze casts of Head of a Woman sometime after 1928: these are now in the Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Lachaise's widow is known to have issued a posthumous cast, which is unlocated. The Lachaise Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts, established in the early 1960s to oversee the artist's estate, authorized an edition of six bronzes, including the present example, all designated as Estate casts. This example was cast in 1963. The last of these is owned by the Foundation.

We are grateful to Virginia Budny for preparing the catalogue entry for this work.