CHANA ORLOFF | MATERNITÉ

Felix Marcilhac, Chana Orloff catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre sculpté, Paris, 1991, p. 202, no. 10, illustrated

This work is representative of the lyrical style of Chana Orloff's oeuvre. Orloff, hailed by critics in the 1920s, at the time of her first visit to America, as one of the world's leading sculptors, was known for blending cubist formalism with a gentle abstraction and a stylized purity of form. A highly successful member of the vibrant community of École de Paris artists in the 1920s and 30s which included Picasso, Modigliani, Cocteau, Chagall and others, the Ukrainian born Orloff was awarded the French Legion of Honor. She was a staunch supporter of Israel, where she created a number of important pieces; she died there in 1968, during a visit on the occasion of a retrospective celebration of her 80^th year. The work offered here reflects the artist's particular interest in the portrayal of women.