Alexander Archipenko 1887-1964
Ballerina, 1957
Copper, wood, metal, paint
27 x 14 x 4 in
68.6 x 35.6 x 10.2 cm
68.6 x 35.6 x 10.2 cm
Inscribed Archipenko
Further images
This work is recorded in the Archipenko Foundation archives with the no. 459 and is published in the Archipenko sculpture catalogue raisonné under the same number. The Archipenko Foundation records...
This work is recorded in the Archipenko Foundation archives with the no. 459 and is published in the Archipenko sculpture catalogue raisonné under the same number. The Archipenko Foundation records a second relief construction of Ballerina, in a slightly different size and variant (work 5430).
Ballerina is a notable polychrome relief construction within a group of works from the late 1950s, which drew inspiration from revisiting ideas of constructions and sculpto-paintings — the innovative mixed-media reliefs that Archipenko had pioneered in Europe in the context of French Cubism.
“My old works contain elements of the new, and the new contain elements of the old,” he remarked in his publication Fifty Creative Years. Several of these new works from the fifties were first showcased in 1957 in New York in a solo exhibition (Recent Polychromes) at Perls Galleries.
Ballerina perfectly illustrates Archipenko’s lifelong exploration of material, colour, form, and movement, as well as of ideas of dance and music.
Ballerina is a notable polychrome relief construction within a group of works from the late 1950s, which drew inspiration from revisiting ideas of constructions and sculpto-paintings — the innovative mixed-media reliefs that Archipenko had pioneered in Europe in the context of French Cubism.
“My old works contain elements of the new, and the new contain elements of the old,” he remarked in his publication Fifty Creative Years. Several of these new works from the fifties were first showcased in 1957 in New York in a solo exhibition (Recent Polychromes) at Perls Galleries.
Ballerina perfectly illustrates Archipenko’s lifelong exploration of material, colour, form, and movement, as well as of ideas of dance and music.
Provenance
Frances Archipenko Gray, 1964 (by bequest from the artist)Private collection, 2004
Exhibitions
Perls Galleries, New York, Archipenko, Recent Polychromes, 14 October - 9 November 1957, cat. no. 24.Hall of Reason, Padua, International Bronze Award, 12th Trivento Art Biennial, November 1957, cat. no. 2 p. 27.
Zabriskie Gallery, New York, Archipenko: Polychrome Sculpture (tour), 27 October - 20 November 1976, cat. no. 23.
Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, Archipenko: Polychrome Sculpture (tour), 10 January - 11 February 1977. cat. no. 23.
Bard College, Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Annandale-on-Hudson, Archipenko: Drawings, Reliefs, and Constructions, 24 August - 26 October 1985, cat. no. I-10 ill. p. 30.
Palmer Museum of Art, State College, Archipenko: A Modern Legacy (tour), 22 September - 13 December 2015.
Literature
Archipenko, Alexander. Archipenko: Fifty Creative Years 1908-1958. New York: Tekhne, 1960, plate no. 10.Barth, Anette. Alexander Archipenkos Sculptural Oeuvre, Parts I and II. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang: 1997. [Doctoral diss., University of Trier, Germany] p. 530, 531, cat no. 314.
Alexander Archipenko Foundation, Alexander Archipenko Catalogue Raisonné, S.57.2A, no. 459.
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