Standing Woman with Pleated Skirt

Gaston Lachaise worked briefly for the jeweller Lalique in Paris before immigrating to the United States to be reunited with his lifelong muse, Isabel (“Belle”) Dutaud Nagle, the subject of this sculpture. He is best known for his female nudes, whose proportions recall paleolithic earth-goddess figurines (which he knew only from reproductions), with their ample bosoms, hips and buttocks conjuring fertility. Although Lachaise sculpted numerous sexually charged nudes, here, Belle is clothed and displays a mature, almost matronly composure. A small though voluptuous woman, she is presented to viewers as the artist saw her privately: grand and sensual. Lachaise once wrote to her, “You are the Goddess I am searching to express in all things.”