Gaston Lachaise
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Gaston Lachaise |
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| Born: | March 19, 1882[1] Paris, France |
| Died: | October 18, 1935 (aged 53)[2] New York City, New York, USA |
| Years active: | 1897-1935 |
| Nationality: | French, American |
| Professional | |
| Occupation(s): | Sculptor |
| Personal pages | |
Gaston Lachaise (pronounced [ga'stɔ̃ la'ʃɛːz], born March 19, 1882, in Paris, France) was a French-American sculptor perhaps best-known for his sculpture of extremely voluptuous female figures. His art was influenced by Indian erotic art and Neolithic Venus figurines.
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[edit] Early life
Lachaise's father, Jean Lachaise, came from Auvergne, and his mother, Marie Barrée, was a native Parisienne. His father was a professional cabinet maker. Lachaise's only sibling was his sister, Allys, who was of a musical inclination. Lachaise's talent for sculpture showed at an early age, and he enrolled in the Ecole Bernard Palissy at the age of 13 to study this art. He entered the Academie Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1898.[3]
[edit] Isabel Nagle
While studying, he started his first studio. At this time he met Isabel Dutaud Nagle, an unhappily-married Canadian American woman ten years his senior. Lachaise became infatuated with Nagle, and she would become his muse for the rest of his life. Nagle had married a rich Boston man at the age of 18 and had a child.[3] Nagle and Lachaise became lovers, but Nagle, not wishing to lose her son, chose to postpone divorcing her husband until the child was in university. Lachaise continued his studies successfully for a while, and was headed for an academic life. Instead he dropped his studies to work for René Lalique, the noted jeweler, in order to save money for passage to the U.S.[4]
[edit] America
Lachaise arrived in Boston on January 13, 1906 with $30 and no knowledge of English. Lachaise quickly found employment with the sculptor Henry Hudson Kitson, and, though he had no respect for Kitson's art, worked on Kitson's Civil War memorial. While earning a living with Kitson, Lachaise met Isabel Nagle regularly, attending concerts, poetry readings and other cultural events with her. At this time he began work on his first significant sculpture, Standing Woman (1912-1927). Through Kitson, Lachaise met Gutzon Borglum. Borglum arranged for Lachaise to have an entry in the Armory Show for 1913. With recognition coming, Lachaise quit work for Kitson in order to concentrate on his own work for six months. He then went to work for the sculptor Paul Manning. Isabel Nagel's divorce was finalized, and the two were married.[4]
With Manning, Lachaise worked on such neo-classical pieces as the head of John D. Rockefeller, and the J.P. Morgan memorial in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lachaise held his first public exhibition in New York City in February 1918. The reviews were generally positive, though Lachaise did inspire some very hostile responses. The respected sculptor Daniel Chester French approached the exhibition dealer, "shaking with rage," and said, "his vision is monstrous, how can you show these things?"[5]
[edit] Recognition
Lachaise's second show was in 1920. Again his work was well-received and he gained a few enthusiastic supporters, including the poet E. E. Cummings. Lachaise began receiving official commissions, including a frieze for the AT&T building in New York, two friezes for the Rockefeller Center, the Rockefeller Tomb, and the Coast Guard Memorial.[6]
Lachaise become known for his insightful portrait sculpture. Among the subjects of Lachaise portraiture are Edgard Varèse, Georgia O'Keefe, E. E. Cummings, and Carl van Vechten. His way of working on these portraits was to produce a realistic likeness at the first sitting, and to destroy it. Then, after 10 to 70 sitting, Lachaise would gradually create "a Lachaise rather than a portrait."[7]
From 1922 until 1926, Lachaise showed his work at the Kraushaa Gallery, and he did not have another exhibition until his final retrospective shortly before his death in 1935.[8]
Lachaise was under constant financial stress throughout his life. Though his own lifestyle was quite frugal, Mme. Laachaise was used to a pampered existence, and Lachaise was happy to accomodate her extravagant tastes.[9] Lachaise had a talent for raising money from his aristocratic patrons, but he was also well-known for insulting those for whom he had no respect-- especially businessmen. His only student, Reuben Nakian recalled, "People sometimes felt he had a chip on his shoulder, but we all did. Modern art was soullessly vilified and Lachaise' work in particular was considered so hideous that it provoked a reaction on his part."[10]
Nakian stated that Lachaise was a teacher who gave little advice, instead asking continually about work in progress, and engaging in incisive discussions of sculpture. One principle of Lachaise's artistic vision, according to Nakian, was, "Simplify and amplify: amplification and simplification."[10]
[edit] Work
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ↑ Nordland, Gerald (1974). Gaston Lachaise: The Man and His Work. New York: George Braziller, p. 2. ISBN 0-8076-0761-4.
- ↑ Nordland (1974). p. 58.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Nordland, Gerald (1964). "Gaston Lachaise: an introduction", in Los Angeles County Museum of Art: Gaston Lachaise: 1882-1935 Sculpture and Drawings. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, p. 1.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Nordland 1964, p. 2.
- ↑ Nordland 1964, p. 3.
- ↑ Nordland 1964, p. 4.
- ↑ Norland 1964, p. 5.
- ↑ Norland 1964, pp. 6-7.
- ↑ Norland 1964, p. 7.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Norland 1964, p. 8.