Woman (Elevation) c. 1912 - 1927

Gaston Lachaise made this bronze sculpture, Woman (Elevation), and I can only imagine the hours he spent feeling and forming this figure. I see this sort of gleaming, dark expanse that suggests both mass and surface. The woman almost seems to be emerging out of the earth. Her hands are raised as if she’s about to speak, or maybe she’s just been startled, and it feels intimate, like we’re catching her in a private moment. The figure is confident and present, but also exposed and vulnerable. I think Lachaise was onto something profound about the body. It has such a strong presence, standing there, so grounded, so solid. And she is totally a woman. The history of art is full of men making women, and the conversation between them is neverending.