1969.28 Alexander Archipenko, Standing Figure | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

By placing a hole where the head should be, incising two lines to represent hair, and using concave shapes to suggest the convex, Alexander Archipenko reinterpreted the traditional form of the female nude. This new model, which uses the void as form, forces the viewer to fill in the spaces. According to Archipenko, "Through the modulation of space, our consciousness participates in the creative process because that which does not exist is re-created within us in the abstract form of space, and becomes a reality in our optical memory. . . . For me the non-existence of something provoked the desire and impulse to transform the absent into reality."

Excerpt from

Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2008.

NOTES

Created 1916

June 2008

Checked Piction

Catalogue essays

Sculpture in the Twentieth Century

Abstract art

Artist/designers

Archipenko, Alexander (American, 1887-1964)

Cultures

Geography

Process/materials

Bronze

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE

AUDIO ASSETS

VIDEO ASSETS

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES

Guggenheim, New York~Learn more about the life and work of Alexander Archipenko.

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS

TEACHING IDEAS

RULES

Apply to objects where number equals 1969.28

General Description

By placing a hole where the head should be, incising two lines to represent hair, and using concave shapes to suggest the convex, Alexander Archipenko reinterpreted the traditional form of the female nude. This new model, which uses the void as form, forces the viewer to fill in the spaces. According to Archipenko, "Through the modulation of space, our consciousness participates in the creative process because that which does not exist is re-created within us in the abstract form of space, and becomes a reality in our optical memory. . . . For me the non-existence of something provoked the desire and impulse to transform the absent into reality."