Preliminary study for Cretan Dancer bronze sculpture

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Boris Lovet-Lorski
Preliminary study for Cretan Dancer bronze sculpture
1930-1934

About the Item

Preliminary study for Cretan Dancer bronze sculpture Unsigned Graphite on tracing paper, 1930-1934 Sheet size: 6 7/8 x 7 1/8 inches Created while the artist was woring in Paris, c. 1930 “The stylizing of the Cretan allegories, used in figures of animals such as horses and bulls, symbolizes the ancient power of the South. These figures reveal a spiritual sensuality as he strives to attain a symbol of the earth and universe endowed with musical values. If man is the center of his idea of life and nature, it is because of the laws that govern the movement of stars and history. The link binding his figures together has, in a sense, a Pythagorean harmony.” Salvatore Quasimodo, Milan, 1967, quoted from Bush, Boris Lover-Lorski: The Language of Time, page 12. Regarding the artist: Boris Lovet-Lorski Lithuanian/Russian/American 1894-1973 Sculptor, painter, and printmaker, Boris Lovet-Lorski was born in Lithuania in 1894. His mother died when he was age three. His father was affluent and owned real estate. Boris grew up in a privileged environment. He studied architecture and then fine arts at the Imperial Academy of Art in Petrograd, Russia (now Saint Petersburg). Following the revolution in 1917 and its aftermath, Boris immigrated to Boston to live with his brother. In the 1920’s, his stylized, Art Deco inspired sculptures, lithographs, and paintings proved to be popular among the American elite. He exhibited frequently, holding his first solo exhibition in Boston, 1920. In the following years, Boris exhibited in New York at Marie Sterner Gallery, Jacques Seligmann Galleries and Wildenstein and Company. He lived in Paris from 1926 to 1932 where he befriended Joseph Hecht, and was exposed to the works of Pablo Picasso, Ossip Zadkine, Contantin Brancusi and Aristide Maillol. In 1932 he returned to America where he became a citizen later in the decade. Lovet-Lorski exhibited in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia. He was a member of the Society of Independent Artists (New York), the National Academy of Design (New York), and the Lotos Club (New York), as well as several Parisian salons. His work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums including the Musée Luxembourg, Bibliotèque Nationale, and the Petit Palais in France, the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (A more extensive list of his works in museums follows) He is considered one of the most successful and recognized sculptors of his generation. His creative influence can be seen in many of his contemporary artists. He died in Los Angeles in 1973. Regarding his iconic Art Deco sculptures of Cretan Dancers: “The stylizing of the Cretan allegories, used in figures of animals such as horses and bulls, symbolizes the ancient power of the South. These figures reveal a spiritual sensuality as he strives to attain a symbol of the earth and universe endowed with musical values. If man is the center of his idea of life and nature, it is because of the laws that govern the movement of stars and history. The link binding his figures together has, in a sense, a Pythagorean harmony.” Salvatore Quasimodo, Milan, 1967, quoted from Bush, Boris Lover-Lorski: The Language of Time, page 12. Lovet-Lorski created sculptures of the following major figures I.J. Paderewski, Prime Minister of Poland Arturo Toscanini, Italian Conductor Lilian Gish, Actress President Franklin D. Roosevelt Mrs. M. C. Niarchos, wife of Stavros Niarchos President Abraham Lincoln James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, First Secretary of Defense Pope Pius XII Dr. Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist President Dwight D. Eisenhower Albert Schweitzer, theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician General Charles De Gaulle, President of the Fourth and Fifth Republic, France John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State, 1953-1959 President John F. Kennedy Works by Lover Lorski are in the following public collections: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo Art Institute of Chicago Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris Brandeis University, Waltham, MA British Museum, London Boston University Brooklyn Museum California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Sam Francisco City Hall, Paris Columbia University, New York Dijon University, Dijon, France Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Los Angeles County Museum Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC Milwaukee Art Museum Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Pasadena Art Museum, California Petit Palais, Paris Rockford Illinois Museum, Illinois San Diego Museum Seattle Art Museum Speed Art Museum, Louisville Smithsonian American Art Museum Syracuse University

Creator:
Boris Lovet-Lorski (1894 - 1973, American)
Creation Year:
1930-1934
Dimensions:
Height: 6.875 in (17.47 cm)Width: 7.125 in (18.1 cm)
Medium:
Graphite
Movement & Style:
Art Deco
Period:
1930-1939
Condition:
Normal waviness to tracing paper that it was created on A working method drawing of one of the artist's most regarded Art Deco sculptures.
Gallery Location:
Fairlawn, OH
Reference Number:
Seller: FA116801stDibs: LU1406631102

Shop All Boris Lovet-Lorski

Boris Lovet-Lorski

Boris Lovet-Lorski, sculptor, lithographer and painter, who contributed significantly to the American Art Deco movement, was born in Lithuania in 1894. Trained as an architect at the Royal Academy in Petrograd, throughout his career, Lovet-Lorski was acutely sensitive to volume and structural space. He also incorporated architectural backgrounds in the flattened aesthetic of his Art Deco neoclassicism, hallmarks of his elegant in a distinctly original style. Lovet-Lorski's idealized subject matter and masterful designs quickly won the young sculptor critical acclaim and led to his first one-man show in Boston in 1925, the year he became an American citizen. He was then invited to teach at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, quickly developing a reputation that catapulted him into the New York artistic milieu. He exhibited on a regular basis with the Wildenstein Gallery from 1928 onward. Lovet-Lorski was a quintessentially Art Deco artist. His unique style was an amalgam of Modern, Tribal, Oriental, Archaic and Teutonic influences. His Slavic roots and eclecticism tempered his modernism with lyricism and a sense of mystery. His sculptures, in bronze or Black Belgian Marble, are sleek and gorgeously polished. The work from the 1920s and 1930s often featured exotic, allegorical nudes, stylized horses or busts. Lovet-Lorski was particularly noted for his female nudes with narrow hips, thoracic cages that broaden as they rise from waist to shoulder and wide-spread arms, with hands clasped and held behind or above classically modeled heads that were perched on their torsos like flowers on a stem. Lovet-Lorski's idealized vision coincided perfectly with the mechanization of the era, its gleaming, streamlined airplanes, automobiles and proud skyscrapers, that were the sacramentals of the inter-war period. He regularly worked in sumptuous and precious materials, onyx, jade and rare, fossilized wood essences, such as that taken from a 600-year old, Assyrian lemon tree. He tailored the subjects of his sculptures to suit the nature of his materials. The Belgian black marble of Head of a Woman is a dense and close-grained stone that complements the idealized features of the figure. God Unknown, one of the sculptor's best-known works was carved in pure white Carrara marble. His preferred exteriors were like polished silk,” adding to the serenity and timelessness that his sculptures convey. Lovet-Lorski’s style and the allure of his materials brought him commissions for portraits of high society and celebrated figures. By 1929, he was successful enough to maintain studios in New York, Rome and Paris. Wildenstein Gallery gave him a retrospective exhibit in 1940. His recognition was international and his sculptures were acquired by the permanent collections of over 20 major museums. The sculptor received the French Legion of Honor in 1950. He was a member of the National Academy of Design, the National Sculpture Society, the Society of Independent Artists and the Salons of Paris. His last major work was the Manila War Memorial. He attempted to complete the monument in 1957, but arthritis had crippled him to the point that he could no longer sculpt. He finished his career as a painter and his works continued to enjoy considerable success. Lovet-Lorski's works are held in the collections of the Musée de Luxembourg, Paris; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the Petit Palais, Paris; the British Museum, London; and many museums and galleries in the United States: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Los Angeles Museum of Art; the Seattle Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts. As an interesting footnote: in his youth, he had considerable success with the feminine sex that was so eloquently extolled in his art.