Signed Alexander Archipenko, 'Flacher Torso'. Modern Female Marble Sculpture, 1916
Signed Alexander Archipenko (Ukranian/American,1887-1964). 'Flacher Torso', 1916. Standing female nude in marble on round plinith base. Inscribed to verso 'Archipenko/1916'.

Archipenko was a pioneering modernist sculptor of abstract human forms who experimented with the effects of negative and positive space. He began his career working in the cubist style and later turned to simplified, abstract shapes with hollowed out parts of the bodies. In paris he worked with Amedeo Modigliani and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. Around 1910, he was introduced to cubism by Fernand Leger, whose studio was near his own. Archipenko, along with the french-hungarian sculptor Joseph Csaky, exhibited at the first public manifestations of cubism in paris; the salon des indépendants and salon d'automne, 1910 and 1911 as well as the new york armory show of 1913; as well as many international cubist exhibitions.

In 1912, having achieved celebrity status, he opened the first of many art schools - including paris and berlin. Archipenko moved to the US in 1923, as he hoped to capitalize on his fame of the past decade and the myth which had come to surround him. He quickly opened an art school in new york city and another at the artist colony of woodstock, new york in the mid-hudson valley. His work is found in numerous museum collections including the centre pompidou, the hirschhorn museum, los angeles county museum, the museum of modern art, the metropolitan museum of art, the whitney museum of art, among others.
28" high. The figure does remove from the base for ease of shipping.

Very good.