The Bride

1936

American, born Ukraine, 1887-1964

The Russian abstractionist Archipenko arrived in America in 1923 already a highly acclaimed sculptor. He was closely associated with the modern artists of Paris and in full command of Cubism, which he practiced in three dimensions to evoke the multifaceted reality of bodies in space. In great demand as a teacher, he lectured at many institutions, including the University of Washington, where he was a visiting professor for the summer terms of 1935 and 1936. He likely created this piece in Seattle.

Archipenko’s love of elegant surfaces led him to develop a unique way of treating traditional terra cotta. He rubbed his fired clay forms with a hard and rough carborundum stone, producing a highly polished surface.

Terracotta

34 1/2 × 6 11/16 × 4 3/4 in. (87.6 × 17 × 12.1cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

36.64

Provenance: The artist

Photo: Paul Macapia

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Sculpture and Drawings by Alexander Archipenko, June 10 - July 5, 1936. Checklist no. 16. [Lent by the artist as Bride, painted terracotta.]

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Museum: Mixed Metaphors, Fred Wilson, Jan. 28 - June 13, 1993. Text by Patterson Sims. No cat. no., reproduced p. 21.

Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Modern Masters and the Figure, Sept. 16 - Nov. 28, 1993. No catalogue.

New York, American Craft Museum, Art In The Machine Age, Oct. 19, 1995 - Feb. 25, 1996 (Fort Wayne, Indiana, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Sept. 7 - Nov. 3, 1996; Akron, Ohio, Akron Art Museum, Jan. 25 - Mar. 30, 1997; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee Art Museum, June 15 - Aug. 15, 1997; Gainesville, Florida, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Sept. 1997 - Nov. 1997). Catalogue ed. Janet Kardon. No cat. no., reproduced p. 151.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Dis-Figured, May 31, 2001 - Mar. 17, 2002. No catalogue.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, International Abstraction: Making Painting Real, May 2, 2003 - Feb. 29, 2004. No catalogue.

University Park, Pennsylvania, Palmer Museum of Art, Archipenko: A Modern Legacy, Sept. 22 - Dec. 13, 2015 (Jacksonville, Florida, Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Jan. 22 - Apr. 17, 2016; Grinnell, Iowa, Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell College, Sept. 30 - Dec. 11, 2016; Seattle, Washington, Frye Art Museum, Jan. 28 - Apr. 30, 2017). No catalogue. [*exhibition organized by International Arts and Artists, Washington, D.C. and also circulated to Mjelby Konstmuseum, Halmstad, Sweden, and Oregaard Museum, Hellerup, Denmark.]

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, From New York to Seattle: Case Studies in American Abstraction and Realism, Jan. 15, 2020 - June 5, 2022 [on view Jan. 15, 2020 - May 9, 2021].

Published ReferencesAnnual Report of the Seattle Art Museum: Thirty-First Year, 1936, p. 9. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum,1937.

Fuller, Richard E. Seattle Art Museum, reproduced p. 29. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1946.

Archipenko, Alexander, et al. Archipenko: Fifty Creative Years, 1908-1958. New York: Tekhne, 1960; reproduced pl. 218 (erroneously dated 1937).

Petterson, Henry. Creating Form in Clay. New York: Reinhold Book Corp., 1968; p. 10, reproduced p. 12, figure I-6.

Marter, Joan. "Alexander Archipenko." In The Grove Dictionary of Art, Vol. 2, edited by Jane Turner, p. 311 (erroneously dated 1937). New York: Grove's Dictionaries, Inc., 1996.

Kangas, Matthew. Robert Willson: Image Maker. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001; reproduced p. 93.

Kangas, Matthew. Relocations: Selected Art Essays and Interviews. New York: Midmarch Press, 2008; reproduced p. 130.

Marter, Joan. "Alexander Archipenko." In The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, Vol. 1, edited by Joan Marter, p. 116 (erroneously dated 1937). New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

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