Gaston Lachaise
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Gaston Lachaise (1882-1935) was a French-born American sculptor known for his voluptuous, monumental bronze female nudes. Born in Paris, he trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts before following the woman who'd become his wife, Isabel Nagle, to America in 1906. She became his lifelong muse and the model for virtually all his figure work.
Lachaise's Standing Woman (1928-30), now at MoMA, distills the female form into powerful, swelling curves that manage to be both massive and buoyant. He also created portrait busts and contributed to architectural projects, including reliefs at Rockefeller Center. He died at 53, just as his most daring late work was pushing toward full abstraction. Our collection includes 3 works at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Sculptures by Gaston Lachaise
3 sculptures catalogued with museum locations. Browse all sculptures
Museums with Gaston Lachaise's Work
2 museums display Lachaise's works. Click any museum to see visiting info and the specific works they hold.
About Gaston Lachaise
Lachaise is known for monumental bronze female nudes with exaggerated, powerful curves. His Standing Woman (1928-30) at MoMA is considered a landmark of American modernist sculpture.
MoMA and the Whitney Museum in New York hold key works. The Cleveland Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago also have pieces. His reliefs appear at Rockefeller Center.
His wife Isabel Nagle was his lifelong muse. He followed her from Paris to Boston in 1906, and her body became the basis for nearly all his female figures, from early realistic works to late near-abstract forms.
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