Post War & Contemporary Art 
10 November 2021
Post War & Contemporary Art 
129

David Hare 1917–1992

Standing Female Figure

1951/52
welded iron to base 17½ h × 6 w × 9 d in (44 × 15 × 23 cm)
estimate: $10,000–15,000
result: $13,750
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Incised signature and date to base ‘Hare 1951’. This work is listed and published in the David Hare archive. When turned upside-down, the sculpture reveals a surreal face laughing.
provenance: Private Collection, New York | Private Collection, Florida | Private Collection, Pennsylvania

This work will ship from Rago in Lambertville, New Jersey.

print

In 1948, together with William Baziotes, Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothko, artist David Hare founded the short-lived Subjects for Artist School in New York. The same year, Hare moved to Paris where he met Alberto Giacometti and the two quickly became friends. It was during this time when Hare began to experiment with steel and bronze, and would often incorporate found metal objects into his compositions. The influence of Giacometti and his time abroad is evident in this work from 1951, where the expressive use of metal creates a sense of kinetic energy and the spindly form seems to step right off the stone base. Hare also pulls from the Surrealist movement happing at the same time, and when turned upside-down, this sculpture reveals a sly, laughing face. 

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