Even when inspired by a particular individual, representations of the human body can acquire universal meanings. Here, Standing Woman suggests an essential female force and vitality. Beginning in 1912, Gaston Lachaise began modeling standing figures inspired by his voluptuous American lover (and wife by 1917), Isabel Nagle.
Indicative of its greater significance, Lachaise referred to his subject, in all its permutations, simply as “Woman.” Owing to its celebration of female physical abundance, critics attributed to this work and others like it a timelessness and a kinship with prehistoric representations of fertility.
88 1/2 x 44 3/8 x 24 11/16 in. (224.8 x 112.7 x 62.7 cm) (show scale)
Foundry mark stamped on back edge of base: "MODERN ART FDRY. NY."
Incised on base behind proper left foot: "G. LACHAISE"
This item is not on view
Frank Sherman Benson Fund, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Alfred T. White Fund, and Museum Collection Fund
© Estate of Gaston Lachaise
Copyright for this work may be controlled by the artist, the artist's estate, or other rights holders. A more detailed analysis of its rights history may, however, place it in the public domain.
The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act.
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress
, Cornell University
, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums
, and Copyright Watch
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact email@example.com
If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email firstname.lastname@example.org
and we will assist if we can.
Gaston Lachaise (American, born France, 1882-1935). Standing Woman, 1955-1956. Bronze, 88 1/2 x 44 3/8 x 24 11/16 in. (224.8 x 112.7 x 62.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank Sherman Benson Fund, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Alfred T. White Fund, and Museum Collection Fund, 56.69. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 56.69_reference_SL3.jpg)
overall, 56.69_reference_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
Over life-size statue of standing nude woman with exaggerated, bulbous forms and relatively small head; simplified facial features; hands on hips; contrapposto stance on rectangular base
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome
any additional information you might have.