Images(5)

Young Girl

Artist William Zorach (American, 1887 - 1966)

Date1921

MediumSculpture; bronze, redish brown patina

Dimensions22 5/8 x 5 1/4 x 6 1/4 in.

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineCharles and Elizabeth Buchanan Collection

Terms

Object number1989.49

DescriptionYoung Girl (Dahlov) is the third edition of six bronzes cast from a mahogany sculpture of 1921, Figure of a Child (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Zorach did comparatively few works in bronze, being primarily a direct carver and not a modeler. Figure of a Child was carved mostly with a penknife, as were many of his earlier works.
Zorach made eight wood carvings between 1919 and 1922. During these years he realized that sculpture--not painting--was his proper medium. (1) The artist described this transition: "I had found my true medium of expression. . . . All art is correlated; all stems from the great creative impulse. There is no reason why sculptors shouldn't paint and painters sculpt." (2)
"Figure of a Child" was one of the three wood carvings that Zorach did in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in summer 1921. These three works are extremely important for an understanding of Zorach's later sculptures.
"Figure of a Child" and the replica of it, "Young Girl (Dahlov)", show Zorach's interest in wood carvings from Africa. When the artist first went to New York, he saw the Aztec, Mayan, and Eskimo art on permanent display at the Museum of Natural History. After seeing an exhibition of Marius De Zayas's African sculpture at Steiglitz's gallery "291," Zorah commented: "It had an extraordinary magic and spiritual quality that is unequaled; it showed the spirit of man in all his terror and awe of the forces of the universe." (3) In his own sculpture, Zorach used the exaggeration and distortion characteristic of non-Western art to emphasize the unique, individual features of the sitter without adhering to a naturalistic depiction of the model.
When Zorach was in Provincetown in summer 1921 he bought two pieces of mahogany from a sea captain who had brought them from Africa. Zorach carved statues of each of his children: two of Dahlov, who was three, and one of Tessim, who was six. "I carved a figure of each child standing, chunky and compact figures in positions no one had ever used before. . . . The children played around the room nude so I could study them and watch the forms move." (4)
"Figure of a Child" was also done that summer and shows a more detailed rendering of Dahlov than the previous work. The stolid stance and petulant demeanor perfectly capture the spirit of a three year old at play. Dahlov often served as a model for her father's work, and we can trace her growth to maturity in her father's sculpture.

KK

Bibliography:
Paul S. Wingert, "The Sculpture of William Zorach" (New York: Pitman, 1938); William Zorach, "William Zorach" (New York: American Artists Group, 1945); John I. H. Baur, William Zorach (New York: Praeger, 1959); William Zorach, "Zorach Explains Sculpture: What It Means and How It Is Made" (New York: Tudor, 1960); William Zorach, "Art Is My Life: The Autobiography of William Zorach" (Cleveland and New York: World, 1967).

Notes:
1 . Wingart, "Sculpture", p. 18.
2. Zorach, "Art is My Life", p. 65.
3. Zorach interview with John D. Moore, April 2,1959, ms.,Archives of American Art, New York
4. Zorach, "Art is My Life", p.66

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