Terra-cotta, circa 1916-45. 520 mm; 20 1/2 inches (height, excluding base). Signed "Archipenko" lower verso near the base.
This scupture has been authenticated by the Archipenko Foundation, Bearsville, New York, September 26, 2013, and will be included in the sculpture catalogue raisonné.
Ukrainian-bored sculptor Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964) moved to Paris in 1908 and became a member of the Cubist group surrounding the Duchamp brothers, and was the second artist (after Picasso) to experiment with the tenets of Cubism with sculpture. Walter Pach chose the sculptures that would be featured in the show during a visit to the artist's studio in 1912.
Archipenko exhibited 5 works at the Amory Show, including four plasters and one group of drawings (the drawings were purchased by Alfred Stieglitz for $135; or $3190 today). His plasters were priced anywhere from $216 (approximately $5100 today) up to $2,700 for La Vie familiale (nearly $63,800 today), but none of them managed to sell at the show.
The elongated, streamlined shape of White Torso exists in stark contrast to Archipenko's most talked about work in the show, Le Repos, a voluptuous nude with her arm framing her face above her head, à la Matisse's Blue Nude.
