Suzanne
1909
Alexander Archipenko (Russian/American, 1887-1964)
Not on View

Suzanne was completed just as Alexander Archipenko was settling into his life in Paris. The Kiev-born artist had been expelled from the Ukrainian city’s art school for criticizing the academicism of his teachers. When he relocated to the French capital, he moved into an artists’ residence known as “La Ruche” (The Beehive), a cylindrical building built by Gustave Eiffel in which Fernand Léger, Marc Chagall and Chaim Soutine, among others, had studios. Archipenko’s interest in primitive art, particularly during this early phase of his career, is on display in Suzanne, as her head, arms, torso and legs are reduced to the simplest of forms. This sculpture was one of the first to break so dramatically from the academic traditions of any three-dimensional media, predating even Constantin Brancusi’s radical forays into sculpture. The present work may refer to the biblical story of Susannah and the Elders, although the disproportionately large thighs and rump, long hair and large breasts of the figure are also seen in contemporary works by Léger, who may have shared the same model.

Details

  • Artist Name: Alexander Archipenko (Russian/American, 1887-1964)
  • Title: Suzanne
  • Date: 1909
  • Medium: Limestone
  • Dimensions: 15-3/8 x 10 x 8-5/8 in. (39.0 x 25.4 x 21.9 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
  • Accession Number: P.1953.250
  • Copyright: © 2017 Estate of Alexander Archipenko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Reproduction, including downloading of ARS works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Object Information

The artist, probably sold to;
[Galerie von Garvens, Hanover, c. 1921-1923];
Private collection, Germany;
Galka Scheyer by 1936;
Pasadena Art Institute, Pasadena, 1953-1954;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1954-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, 1975.

Archipenko: The Parisian Years

  • Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY), 1970-07-20 to 1970-10-18

From Paris to Pasadena: An Overview of Color Lithography, 1890-1975

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2000-10-04 to 2001-01-15

East Meets West: Russian Art from the 18th through the 20th Century

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1987-10-01 to 1988-04-17

Permanent and Loan Collection, 1973

  • Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, 1973-01-30 to 1973-12-31

The Spirit of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in the New World

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1994-11-17 to 1996-01-14

The Blue Four-Galka Scheyer Collection From The Norton Simon Museum

  • Henry Art Gallery, 1997-07-17 to 1997-10-05

Maven of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in California

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2017-04-07 to 2017-09-25

Gaze: Portraiture After Ingres

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2009-10-30 to 2010-04-05

From Europe to California: Galka Scheyer and the Avant-Garde

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2003-05-16 to 2003-10-13

Bauhaus Painters; Spirit of Modernism: Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitzky, Oskar Schlemmer, Alexander Archipenko, Alexei Jawlensky and Others

  • Seoul, Ho-Am Art Museum, 1996-02-08 to 1996-04-28
  • Nierendorf Gallery, Alexander Archipenko: Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, 1944,
  • Associated American Artists Galleries, One Man Show by Archipenko, 1954, no. 11
  • Arts Digest, 1954, p. 25
  • Archipenko, Alexander, Archipenko: Fifty Creative Years 1908-1958, 1960, fig. 106
  • The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 1976, no. 311 pp. 133-134
  • Jánszky Michaelsen, Katherine, Archipenko: A Study of the Early Works, 1908-1920, 1977, pp. 34, 153
  • Schnell, Werner, Der Torso als Problem der modernen Kunst, 1980, fig. 163 pp. 121-122
  • Barth, Anette, Alexander Archipenkos plastisches Oeuvre, 1997, no. 6 p. 43 (I), pp. 26-27 (II)
  • Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 351 pp. 344-346

Additional Artwork by Artist

Angelica Alexander Archipenko 1922
Figure Alexander Archipenko 1917
Figure Alexander Archipenko 1917

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