This work is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from The Archipenko Foundation and will be included in the catalogue raisonné as work number 6328.
Archipenko was born in Kiev and studied painting and sculpture at the Kiev Art School from 1902-05. Moving to Paris in 1908, he continued his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts for a short time before studying independently through visits to the Musée du Louvre. During these early years, he was drawn to Ancient and early Gothic sculpture, but he took a modern approach to his own work, being one of the first sculptors to adopt the principles of Cubism by showing a figure in multiple views and utilizing sculptural voids and negative space. In 1913, four of his sculptures and five of his drawings were exhibited at the Armory Show in New York. In 1923, he moved to New York, where he was deeply influential on young American modernist artists, and continued to create sculptures, innovating the medium through his use of color, unexpected mediums and incorporating collage of various objects.
