Lachaise was working in Paris in 1903 when he met his lifelong muse Isabel Dutaud Nagle, whom he later married in 1917. Responding to Nagle’s voluptuous figure, the sculptor created a powerful archetype of womanhood; Standing Woman is almost a modern fertility goddess. Swelling and undulating with elegant strength, she perches delicately on her tiptoes, seeming nearly to levitate despite her evident weight. Her closed eyes enhance her detachment from the realm of the viewer, whom the sculptor invites to marvel at her extraordinary body.
Marking: Foundry mark (edge of base, right): ROMAN BRONZE WORKS/ N. Y.
the artist, New York (1930–d. 1935); Scofield Thayer, New York (by 1946–d. 1982; on extended loan to the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass. as part of the Dial Collection, 1946–82; his bequest to MMA)
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Sculpture Since Rodin," January 14–February 13, 1949, no. 13.
Worcester Art Museum. "The Dial and the Dial Collection," April 30–September 8, 1959, no. 35.
Worcester Art Museum. "The Dial Revisited," June 29–August 22, 1971, no catalogue (checklist).
Worcester Art Museum. "'The Dial': Arts and Letters in the 1920s," March 7–May 10, 1981, no. 66.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection One: Twentieth-Century Art," February 1–April 30, 1985, no catalogue.
Canberra. Australian National Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 1–April 27, 1986, unnumbered cat. (p. 70).
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," May 7–July 1, 1986, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden," May 1–October 31, 1993, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden," May 1–October 30, 1994, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden," May 2–October 29, 1995, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden," May 1–October 27, 1996, unnum. brochure.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden," May 1–late fall 1997, unnum. brochure.
Nicholas Joost. "The Dial Collection: Tastes and Trends of the 'Twenties." Apollo 94 (December 1971), p. 492, fig. 6.
Michael Brenson. "Met Museum Given Major Private Collection." New York Times (August 25, 1982), p. C18.
Lisa M. Messinger in "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1984–1985. New York, 1985, p. 51, ill.
Elyse Topalian. "Modern Art in the Met." Apollo 124 (October 1986), p. 362, dates it 1917.
Michael Desmond in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, p. 70, ill. (color).
Barbara Burn, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd rev. ed. (1st ed., 1983). New York, 1994, p. 455, no. 42, ill. (color).
Joan M. Marter inAmerican Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Thayer Tolles. Vol. 2, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1865 and 1885. New York and New Haven, 2001, pp. 665–67, no. 307, ill.
Virginia Budny. "Gaston Lachaise's American Venus: The Genesis and Evolution of 'Elevation'." American Art Journal 34/35 (2003/ 2004), pp. 62–143, fig. 1 (not this cast); MMA cast, pp. 127–28, 143 n. 163, notes that in November 1923, Scofield Thayer purchased the option to have the plaster version of this sculpture cast in bronze, which he ordered in October 1924; further states that the cast intended for Thayer was made in 1927 but given by Lachaise to his wife (now owned by the Art Institute of Chicago); clarifies that the MMA version is the third cast, made in 1930 for Erhard Weyhe but not delivered.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inAbstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow, Lisa Mintz Messinger, and Nan Rosenthal. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 37–38, 40 n. 3, fig. 15 (color).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, p. 404, ill. (color).
Virginia Budny. Gaston Lachaise: For the Love of Woman. Exh. cat., Park Avenue Armory. New York, 2016, pp. 3–4, 13 n. 9, frontispiece (with the artist; Art Institute of Chicago cast).
Roberta K. Tarbell inA New American Sculpture, 1914–1945: Lachaise, Laurent, Nadelman, and Zorach. Ed. Andrew J. Eschelbacher. Exh. cat., Portland Museum of Art. Portland, Me., 2017, p. 42.
Three editions were made of this sculpture, with four casts in each edition. The Met cast is number three of the four lifetime casts. Four posthumous casts were authorized by the artist's widow. An additional four posthumous casts were authorized by the Lachaise Foundation.
Gaston Lachaise (American (born France) 1882–1935)
1930; cast 1970s (?), by 1995
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