Artist’s Focus: Gaston Lachaise
This season, Freeman’s Hindman is very proud to introduce at auction, and throughout three different sales, several bronzes by Gaston Lachaise (many of which are fresh to market) from an important family collection in New York. Ranging in size and years, they provide a unique opportunity to rediscover the distinctive style of the French-born Master, once considered to be one of America’s best living sculptors.
From left to right: Gaston Lachaise | Torso (Second State) [LF 84] | Estimate: $4,000 - 6,000
Gaston Lachaise | Veiled Nude, c. 1932-1935 | Estimate: $1,000 - 1,500
Gaston Lachaise | Standing Woman [LF 136] | Estimate: $6,000 - 10,000
Part I: Impressionist and Modern Art, Philadelphia (October 28)
A selection of three bronze sculptures and three pencil drawings will first be presented in the inaugural Impressionist and Modern Art auction (October 28), drawing from Lachaise’s French origins and hinting at his early inspirations from Auguste Rodin, Aristide Maillol, and even Henri Matisse.
Gaston Lachaise (American/French, 1882–1935) | Dans La Nuit (Lovers) [LF 108] | Estimate: $100,000 - 150,000
Gaston Lachaise first burst onto the New York art scene in 1918 with his first solo exhibition at the Bourgeois Galleries. He made a name for himself with his Rubenesque sculptures of women, which participated in the redefinition of his female ideal, which he conceptualized and idealized throughout his career. His friend Marsden Hartley said that Lachaise “saw the entire universe in the form of a woman.”
Van Vechten, Carl, photographer. Portrait of Gaston Lachaise. , 1934. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004663152/.
The highlight of Freeman’s Hindman’s October 28 auction conveys a vision of the ideal, yet it also contains a compelling narrative. Dans la Nuit (Lovers) depicts two mature, recumbent, larger-than-life lovers lying asleep next to each other. It is one of the last artistic projects Gaston Lachaise undertook before his sudden death in New York City on October 18, 1935. The composition recapitulates his summarily modeled early statuette, also named Dans la Nuit, representing two intertwined young lovers, the male awake and watching as the female sleeps peacefully at his side. That statuette, intended to have universal significance, was one of the very last works created by Lachaise before leaving France (his native country) in 1905 in pursuit of his American lover, Isabel Duteau (or Dutaud) Nagle (1872-1957), who would be his lifelong muse and his paragon for womanhood. The sculpture recalls the fairytale encounter of the two lovers.
Isabel Dutaud Nagle, Paris, photograph, circa 1904
Courtesy of the Lachaise Foundation
Then, a student at the Académie Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Lachaise, caught a glimpse of Isabel strolling along the Seine and instantly fell in love with her. “At twenty, in Paris,” Lachaise later recalled of their meeting, “I met a young American who immediately became the primary inspiration which awakened my vision and the leading influence that has directed my forces. » Dans la Nuit, in this sense, clearly expresses Lachaise’s love for Isabel, forever together.
Part II: Post-War and Contemporary Art, New York City (November 14)
Gaston Lachaise | Torso with Arms Raised, 1935 [LF 106] | Estimate: $15,000 - 25,000
Capitalizing on Lachaise’s bold, experimental style, Freeman’s Hindman will also present his 1935 Torso with Upright Arms in its inaugural Post-War and Contemporary Art in New York City, alongside 20th-century names such as Andy Warhol and Mark di Suvero. Lachaise’s surprising, eerie image of a headless woman with arms jutted out is an advanced visual experiment. This proves just how much the artist was regarded as one of the most pivotal figures in American Modernism.
Part III: American Art, Philadelphia (December 8)
Finally, the remaining (and most) of the Lachaise bronzes will be offered in the firm’s American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists auction out of Philadelphia on December 8 - a more traditional receptacle for a sculptor who rose to become one of the leading artistic forces in America at the turn of the century. Among the highlights will be Relief (Woman) (Estimate: $120,000 - 180,000) and Garden Figure (Estimate: $150,000 - 250,000), two monumental sculptures among the very few still in private hands.
Lead by more intimate works such as Passion (Estimate: $20,000 - 30,000) or Head of Woman, each large-scale sculpture is regarded as an homage to Lachaise’s beloved wife, Isabel. While the relief evokes a “tranquil and generous” woman in majesty, which the viewer gazes at respectfully, as if it were an idol, Garden Figure “vigorously and gloriously” stands as the embodiment of abundance and force of nature, which Lachaise saw as the primary vector to infuse vitality into his art. Ultimately, both forms aim to express a certain idea of universal harmony and well-being.
Throughout this fantastic selection of bronzes, we understand just how much Lachaise’s sculptures exhibit a profound understanding of sculptural principles and a mastery of technique that goes far the abilities of many of his contemporaries, thus proving the necessary need to celebrate a one-of-a-king, trailblazing talent.
