Ossip Zadkine

Torse de femme [Torso of a Woman]

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About this artwork

Like Léger, Mondrian, Chagall and many other European artists, Zadkine took refuge in the United States during World War II, where this work was made. Zadkine later wrote that the stone was among the hardest he had carved, hence the lack of detail and the rough surface. ‘Torse de femme’ resembles a sculpture from antiquity, damaged and fragmented, yet mounted heroically on a base. Whilst in America, Zadkine could not forget the destruction that was being felt in Europe and this work perhaps denotes the terrible human toll of the war.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Ossip Zadkine (1888 - 1967) French
  • title:
    Torse de femme [Torso of a Woman]
  • date created:
    1943
  • materials:
    Stone (dolerite)
  • measurements:
    45.00 x 28.50 x 15.00 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Presented by Miss Elizabeth Watt 1985
  • accession number:
    GMA 2965
  • gallery:
  • subject:
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Ossip Zadkine

Ossip Zadkine