Object Details
Artist
Jo Davidson, 30 Mar 1883 - 2 Jan 1952
Sitter
Gertrude Stein, 3 Feb 1874 - 27 Jul 1946
Exhibition Label
Born Allegheny, Pennsylvania
American expatriate writer Gertrude Stein was a high priestess of early-twentieth-century modernism for the many who visited her fabled Paris apartment. She collected and promoted the art of the avant-garde, including that of Picasso and Matisse, and her own abstract, repetitive prose inspired the experiments of playwrights, composers, poets, and painters. “There was an eternal quality about her,” sculptor Jo Davidson wrote. “She somehow symbolized wisdom.” He chose to depict her here as a “sort of modern Buddha.” Delighted by the sculpture, Stein composed one of her famous prose portraits of Davidson, later published in Vanity Fair alongside a photograph of this work.
Provenance
Morris P. Leibovitz [1917-1992]; gift to NPG 1978
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Dr. Maury Leibovitz
Date
1922-23
Object number
NPG.78.196
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Sculpture
Medium
Terra cotta
Dimensions
Object: 76.2 x 57.8 x 62.2cm (30 x 22 3/4 x 24 1/2")
See more items in
National Portrait Gallery Collection
Exhibition
20th Century Americans: 1900-1930
On View
NPG, South Gallery 322
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Topic
Costume\Jewelry\Medallion
Gertrude Stein: Female
Gertrude Stein: Arts and Culture\Literature\Writer\Poet
Gertrude Stein: Arts and Culture\Patron of the arts
Gertrude Stein: Arts and Culture\Literature\Writer\Librettist
Gertrude Stein: Arts and Culture\Visual Arts\Art collector
Gertrude Stein: Arts and Culture\Literature\Writer\Novelist
Portrait
Link to Original Record
Record ID
npg_NPG.78.196