Man
Artist
Gaston Lachaise
(French, 1882-1935)
Manufacturer
E. Gargani & Sons
(American)
CultureFrench
Datemodeled 1930-34, cast 1938
MediumBronze
Dimensions100 1/16 × 51 5/8 × 35 9/16 in., 17600.32 oz. (254.2 × 131.1 × 90.3 cm, 498960 g.)
InscribedInscribed, top of base, right front corner: G. Lachaise;
© Cast Number One;
Inscribed, edge of base, left back corner: E. GARGANI SON FDRY N.Y.
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.2123
Collections
On View
On viewLabel TextGaston Lachaise French, 1882–1935 Man, modeled 1930–34, cast 1938 Bronze cast by E. Gargani & Sons, Brooklyn, New York The male nude was one of Chrysler’s favorite subjects to collect, and he acquired major examples by Rodin, Cezanne, and others, besides this monumental bronze by Gaston Lachaise.With his triumphant gesture, Gaston Lachaise’s monumental bronze Man asserts the primal importance of the human body in an age of machines, wars, and economic unrest. Based on studies of ancient Greek and Egyptian sculpture, the artist simplifies the nude body while conveying its strength through bulging muscles and exaggerated proportions. This work commands us to think about our bodies and the space they occupy. Its massive hands suggest we consider the creative potential of our own fingertips. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2123 ProvenanceThe artist; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York, N.Y., 1938-1971; Gift to the Chrysler Museum of Art, 1971. Exhibition History"Art in Our Time," An Exhibition to Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Museum of Modern Art and the opening of its New Building, Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y., 1939. "Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va., January 16 - March 4, 1941; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pa., March 29 - May 11, 1941. "Gaston Lachaise," Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., November - December, 1974; The Frederick S.Wight Art Galleries, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., January - February, 1975; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Ill., March - April, 1975; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minn., June - July 1975. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. Published References_Art in Our Time_, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y., 1939, no. 282. Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., _Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._, exh. cat., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va., 1941, 65, no. 103. _Gaston Lachaise, 1882-1935: Sculpture and Drawings_, exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Calif., 1964, no. 85. ISBN: 0918098068 Gerald Nordland, _Gaston Lachaise: The Man and His Work_ (New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1974), 106-107. ISBN: 0807607614, 0807607622 Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 197. Dennis R. Anderson, "Man on View Outside Museum," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_ 4, no. 9 (September 1975). Patterson Sims, _Gaston Lachaise: A Concentration of Works from the Permanent Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art_, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., 1980, 26-27. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_, (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 98. ISBN: 0-940744-37-6 Bernhard Buderath, _Alfred Hrdlicka: Anatomien des Leids_ (Stuttgart, Germany: Klett-Cotta, 1984), 116-119, 183. ISBN: 3608761926 Teresa Annas, "Honoring the man who gave us 'Man'," _The Virginian-Pilot and the Ledger Star_ (January 5, 1992): G5. Wendy Wick Reaves, _Eye Contact: Modern American Portrait Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery_ (Washington, D.C.: National Portrait Gallery in assoc. with University of Washington Press, 2002): 98, fig. 33. ISBN: 0295982675 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005). ISBN: 0-940744-71-6 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 73, fig. 81. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1 Ann Temkin and Peter Reed, _Oasis in the City- The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at The Museum of Modern Art_ (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2018): page 21, figure 13.
