Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891-1915)

'Gaudier-Brzeska made a clay model from which two plasters were cast; the clay model and one plaster were given to Alfred Wolmark and the second plaster, which had one breast damaged, was given to Horace Brodzky. Twelve bronzes have been cast from the Wolmark plaster and three from the Brodzky plaster. The model for these torsos is said to have been Nina Hamnett, who refers to them in her book "Laughing Torso"' (see exhibition catalogue, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska Sculpture with a selection of drawings from Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1972, p. 21). However, Evelyn Silber notes that 3 bronzes were cast from Brodzky's chipped plaster, including one in the collection of the Tate Gallery, and only 5 bronzes were cast from the Wolmark unchipped plaster, including one in the collection of Kettle's Yard, Cambridge (loc. cit.).