Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964)

The Archipenko Foundation will include this bronze in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné of sculptures by Alexander Archipenko.

In 1912 Archipenko executed a terracotta sculpture comprising of two full-length figures and a child, measuring approximately six feet (cf. D.H. Karshan, op. cit., p. 39, no. 34). This sculpture was exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in Paris, 1912, and the Armory Show in New York, 1913. It was accidentally destroyed soon after, probably during its return to Paris. Because of the importance of this sculpture, Archipenko reconstructed the upper portion in terracotta in 1935 (ibid., no. 33), and later executed a smaller variant, from which the present sculpture was cast.