Timeline
Chronology and Selected Exhibitions
This chronology is highly selective and does not include major group exhibitions in which Lachaise has been represented. In addition to the collection of the Lachaise Foundation in Boston, the Lachaise archives at Yale University Library in New Haven, Connecticut, contain an extensive deposit of correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles, catalogues, and other special material.
| 1882 | March 19 Born in Paris. |
| 1895 | Enters Ecole Bernard Palissy to study sculpture. Click for full image. |
| 1898 | Enters the Académie Nationale des Beaux-Arts
to study in the Atelier Gabriel Jules Thomas. Click for full image.  |
| 1899-1904 | Exhibits in the Annual Salon. Click for full image. |
| 1902–04 | Meets Isabel Dutaud Nagle, Paris. Completes Military service. |
Click for full images.   |
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| 1904-05 | Leaves the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Begins work for René Lalique. |
| 1905 | Exhibition: January 6-February 4, 1905 Lachaise exhibits at the Boston Art Club even before arriving in the US, sending a piece from Paris, presumably with Isabel. Bust, (no. 181) is included in the 71st exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture. Lachaise would exhibit two more sculptures there: Bust study (no. 219) in 1907, and Bust of Miss Y.C. [Ysabel Caruchet] (no. 161) in 1908. Click for full image.  |
| 1905 | Begins work for René Lalique. |
| 1906 | January 13 Arrives in Boston to be near Isabel. |
| 1906-12 | In Boston, working for Henry Hudson Kitson. |
| 1912 | In 1912 Lachaise comes to New York with Kitson. He lives in a four-story boarding house at 41 Washington Square South, between MacDougal and Sullivan. He works in Kitson’s studio at 7 Macdougal Alley, and keeps a studio on 9th street. By 1913 he is at 45 Washington Square South, and would move around Greenwich Village, often sleeping in his studio. |
| 1912-13 | Leaves Kitson. |
| By 1913 he is at 45 Washington Square South, and would move around studios in and around Greenwich Village, continuing to see his beloved Isabel, in Maine and in New York where she would mostly stay in hotels, though from 1916-23 Lachaise kept a place at 77 Washington Place. Isabel, in or near Georgetown, Maine, c. 1913. 
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| 1913 | February Exhibition: The Armory Show, New York, NY. Lachaise is represented by Nude with Coat (LF 115). |
| 1917 | Becomes citizen of the United States. |
| June 25 Marries Isabel Dutaud Nagle, New York NY. |
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| 1918 | February 13–March 9 First Exhibition: Stephan Bourgeois Galleries, New York, NY Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings by Gaston Lachaise Elevation (LF 55) shown in plaster. Henry McBride praises exhibit. |
| March 9–22 Exhibition: Whitney Studio, New York, NY Participated in the two-part "Indigenous Show." Sculptors were allowed five days and varying amounts of clay. The public was invited to watch the creative geniuses at work. Besides Lachaise, sculptors invited included: Elie Nadelman, Jo Davidson, Paul Manship, John Gregory, Hunt Diederich, James Earle Fraser, Mahonri Young, and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney herself. Click for full image.  |
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| 1919 |
Lachaise took part in the execution of Thomas Hastings' memorial arch called the Victory Arch (Carrére & Hastings) which was erected across Fifth Avenue at Madison Square at 24th street for the March 25, 1919 parade of the 27th division. It was erected "to commemorate the homecoming of the victorious army and navy of the United States of America and in memory of those who have made the supreme sacrifice for the Triumph of the Free Peoples of the World and the Promise of an Enduring Peace." The Chariot on the top of the arch was executed by Paul Bartlett, assisted by the Piccirilli brothers. Lachaise was one of many artists chosen, including also Chester Beach, Gutzon Borglum, John Flanagan, Eli Harvey, Raphael Menconi, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (the only woman) and Mahonri Young. In December 1918 Lachaise copyrighted two bas relief plaques, one showing a group of red cross nurses representing various nations and the other showing two nurses standing by wounded sailor and soldier. See New York Legislative documents, vol. 38, NY State Legislature and Jennifer Wingate, Sculpting Doughboys: Memory, Gender, & Taste in America’s World War I Memorials, Taylor & Francis, 2017. Here is an excellent description of the history of the Arch with photos from the Library of Congress byThe Daily Beast 7/30/2018. "Contemporaries at Bourgeois," American Art News vol 17 Jan 4 1919 "drawings by Rodin and sculpture by Lachaise whose bas relief decorations for the Red Cross Arches on the Avenue have been much remarked." Click for full image.
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| 1920 | January 31–February 21 Second Exhibition: Stephan Bourgeois Galleries, New York, NY. Catalogue: Exhibition of Sculptures and Drawings by Gaston Lachaise. Introductory essay by Stephan Bourgeois. Appreciation of Lachaise by E.E. Cummings published in The Dial. |
| 1921 | Commission: Frieze commissioned for the American Telephone and Telegraph Building, New York, NY. Click for full image.  |
| 1922 | Joins C.W. Kraushaar Galleries, New York, NY. Resigns as Director, Society of Independent Artists. |
Isabel and Gaston Lachaise buy a house in Georgetown, Maine. Click for full image. |
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| 1924 | January 15–February 16 Exhibition: C.W. Kraushaar Galleries, New York, NY. Lachaise is the only sculptor represented Catalogue: An Important Collection of Paintings, Marbles, Bronzes. Introduction by Guy Pène du Bois. Publication: Gallatin book, Gaston Lachaise, published. |
| 1925-26 | December 22–January 26 Exhibition: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Catalogue: Original Sculpture by Gaston Lachaise. |
| During the 1920s Lachaise made many portraits of figures in the New York arts and literary scene, including Scofield Thayer; John Marin, E E Cummings, and Marianne Moore. This picture of Lachaise carving the bust of of James Sibley Watson was probably taken at 20 West 8th Street, New York, where he kept a studio from 1924-1926/27. It was here he began the portraits of Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. Click for full images.   |
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| 1926 |
Ernest Fiene (1894-1965), Portrait of Isabel Lachaise, 1926. Click for full image.  |
| 1927 | March 7-April 3, 1927 Exhibition: Alfred Stieglitz hosts 20 Sculptures by Gaston Lachaise. The Intimate Gallery, Room 303, Anderson Galleries, 489 Park Avenue at 59th Street, New York, NY. Left: Announcement; Center and Right: New York Sun article by Henry McBride, "Notable Sculptures Shown" Click for full images.   .  |
| Lachaise’s monumental Elevation first cast in bronze. The bronze cast would be exhibited at The Brummer Gallery, February 27-March 24, 1928, going in 1929 to Cambridge for an exhibit organized by the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art; to Philadelphia in 1933, to the MoMA in 1935, and is now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Art critic Henry McBride wrote about the show in the Dial, recalling his first time seeing Elevation in 1918, describing her: “air of exuberance, of exaltation, of expansiveness... a priestess from another planet...at least early-Egyptian, early-Arabian, or at least pre-Greek!" Henry McBride, “Modern Art,” Dial, 84 May, 1928. Click for full image.  |
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| 1928 |
February 27–March 24
Exhibition: Brummer Gallery, New York, NY. Catalogue: Lachaise. Essay by Henry McBride. Exhibition installation, featuring Floating Woman (LF 63). Installation view (no larger image). 
Click for full image. 
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| 1930 | Letter from Gaston Lachaise to Isabel Lachaise dated August 21, 1930, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University Click for full image.  |
| 1931 | Left: Lachaise kept a studio at 55 West 8th Street, New York, 1926/27-1933 Right: Lachaise in his studio soon after December 7, 1931, with Elevation Click for full images.   |
| George L.K. Morris, Lachaise in his studio with bust of E.E. Cummings Click for full image.  |
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| 1932 | Heroic Standing Woman (LF 92) ©1932 Click for full image.  |
| 1932–33 | Reliefs executed for the R.C.A. Building (Radio Corporation of America), 1250 Avenue of the Americas, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY. New York Times, March 12, 1933 Caption: The sculptor puts the finishing touches to a great stone carving: Gaston Lachaise Click for full image.  |
| 1933 | Lachaise’s relief panel Conquest of Time & Space exhibited in the Century of Progress, Chicago Worlds Fair, 1933, above the west entrance of the Communications Hall. Click for full images.  |
October 27-November 17Exhibition: Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gaston Lachaise: Architectural and Smaller Sculptures |
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| 1933 | Photo Left: Carl Van Vechten, 1933, Lachaise with Breasts, carved by 1933, (LF 101); Photo Right: Carl Van Vechten, 1933, Lachaise with Walking Man [Kirstein], 1932 (LF 98) 
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| 1934 | Reliefs for International Building, Rockefeller Center, New York. La Montagne (LF 186) executed in cement. |
| International Building, 45 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY Caption on left: Lachaise studies one of the two panels he carved over entrance to Rockefeller center International building in New York. Click for full images.   |
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| 1935 |
January 30–March 7
Exhibition: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise Retrospective Exhibition. Introduction by Lincoln Kirstein. |
| Receives commission for Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA, Welcoming the Peoples. |
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| October 18 Death of Lachaise, New York, NY. |
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| 1935 Soichi Sunami, Gaston Lachaise at his 1935 Museum of Modern Art Retrospective, standing with his colossal La Montagne, 1934-35, commissioned and lent by the artist George L. K. Morris (1905-1975) and his wife Suzy Frelinghuysen (1911-1988) Click for full image.  |
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| 1937 |
April 20–May 7
Exhibition: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. Drawings and Small Sculptures by Gaston Lachaise. |
| 1938 | January 31–February 19 Exhibition: Valentin Gallery, New York, NY. Man (LF 85) first shown in bronze. |
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| 1946 | Death of Stieglitz Click for full image.  |
| Letter from Bertram Hartman to Isabel Lachaise, dated February 3, 1946, Beinecke Library Yale University. Hartman depicts Stieglitz in his cot at his gallery, An American Place, and the works that surrounded him, including “a Seagull Marin oil"; “one of those early, so charged with esoteric meaningless subtractions of the wife [Georgia O’Keeffe]“; and "the alabaster torso in the corner” by Lachaise. The Beinecke houses a fantastic trove of letters from Hartman to Isabel, containing wonderful illustrations. Click for full image.  |
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| 1947 |
January 20-February 15
Exhibition: M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY. Catalogue: Lachaise. Introduction by Lincoln Kirstein. |
| 1954 | Exhibition: XXVII Biennale, Venice, Italy. 2 Pittori, de Kooning, Shahn, 3 Sculptori, Lachaise, Lassaw, Smith. United States entry. |
| 1955-56 | December 27–January 28 Exhibition: Weyhe Gallery, New York, NY. Catalogue: Lachaise: Exhibition of Drawings and Sculpture. Introduction by E.E. Cummings. |
| 1957 | January 28–February 23 Exhibition: Margaret Brown Gallery, Boston, MA. Dynamo Mother (LF 104) first exhibited. |
| Death of Isabel Lachaise at age 85. Click for full image.  |
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| 1959 | Summer
Exhibition: Moscow, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. United States National Art Exhibition. Included: Standing Woman (LF 92), from the collection The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Click for full image.  |
| 1963-64 |
December 3–January 19
Travelling Exhibition: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. Travelled to: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 18–April 5. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture and Drawings. Introduction by Gerald Nordland. Bibliography, chronology and catalogue information by Donald Goodall. |
| 1963-65 |
Exhibition: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.
Gaston Lachaise, a circulating exhibition of 26 sculptures and 16 drawings. |
| 1964 | February 18–March 14 Exhibition: Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, NY. Catalogue: An Exhibition of Portraits by Gaston Lachaise. |
| 1965 | April 5–May 1 Exhibition: Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture and Drawings. |
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| 1966 | February 1–19 Exhibition: Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, NY. Catalogue: Drawings and Sculpture by Gaston Lachaise. |
| 1967 | Travelling Exhibition: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture and Drawings. This exhibition has included up to 45 sculptures and 20 drawings and, by April of 1998, had been shown at 119 museums, galleries and universities throughout the United States and Canada. This show has been expanded to travel in Europe (2003–06). |
| 1973 | October 20–November 29 Exhibition: Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, NY. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture and Drawings (emphasis on the later works). |
| 1974 | Publication: Gerald Nordland's book, Gaston Lachaise: The Man and His Work, is published. |
| 1974-75 |
November 6–December 20
Travelling Retrospective Exhibition: Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Travelled to: Wight Art Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, January 12–February 23; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, March 8–April 20; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis MN, June 7–20. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise. Introduction by Gerald Nordland. |
| 1979 | January 20–March 4 Exhibition: Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture and Drawings. Introduction by Gerald Nordland. |
| 1980 |
March 5–April 27
Exhibition: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: A Concentration of Work by Gaston Lachaise from the Permanent Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Introduction and notes by Patterson Sims. |
April–July
Exhibition*: Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA and Bowdoin College Museum, Brunswick, ME. Catalogue: Three American Sculptors and the Female Nude: Lachaise, Nadelman and Archipenko. Essay by Jeanne L. Wasserman with contributions by James B. Cuno. |
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| October 13-November 24 Exhibition: California State College, San Bernardino, CA. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture and Drawings. Essay by Deborah Waters. |
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| 1982 | February 27–March 24 Exhibition: Robert J. Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, NY. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise, Twenty Sculptures. Introduction by Dominique Fourcade. |
July–August
Exhibition: Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY. Selected Drawings of Gaston Lachaise. |
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November 19–December 19
Exhibition: Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise, 100th Anniversary Exhibition, Sculpture and Drawings. Essay by Herschel B. Chipp. |
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| 1983-84 | December 16–January 31 Exhibition: Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California, CA. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture and Drawings. |
| 1984 |
May 16–September 16
Exhibition: Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture and Drawings. Essay and notes by John Holverson. |
| 1985 | April 18–May 9 Exhibition: PLS Galleries, Dallas, TX. "Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings of Gaston Lachaise." |
| 1985-86 |
November 22–February 17
Exhibition: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Catalogue:Gaston Lachaise: Portrait Sculpture. Essay by Carolyn Kinder Carr. Text by Margaret C.S. Christman. |
| 1989 | March 9–April 15 Exhibition*: Vanderwoude Tananbaum Gallery, New York, NY. The Art of Style: A Look at Sculptors, Diederich, Lachaise and Nakian. |
| 1992 |
January 2–February 22
Travelling Exhibition: Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY. Travelled to: Houston, Texas, Meredith Long & Co., March 4–March 28. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture. Essay by Barbara Rose. |
| 1993 |
Summer
Special Group Exhibition: Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, New York, NY. Click for large image. |
| 1994 |
January 6–February 26
Travelling Exhibition: Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY. Gaston Lachaise: The Monumental Sculpture. Travelled to the Nassau County Museum of Art, May 20, 1994–September 17, 1995; the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, October 3, 1995–March 31, 1996. |
| 1998 |
April 28–May 30
Exhibition: Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise: Sculpture and Drawings. Essay by Hilton Kramer. |
| 1999 |
October 7–30
Exhibition: Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY. Gaston Lachaise: Reliefs. Catalogue: Essay by Steven Harvey. |
| 2001 |
April 12–June 23
Travelling Exhibition*: Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France. Travelled to: Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, October 10-December 31; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes, 18 January-March 31, 2002. Catalogue: Made in USA: L'art américain, 1908-1947. Essay by Éric de Chassey. |
| 2002 |
January 10–March 2
Exhibition: Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, California. Catalogue: Gaston Lachaise Sculpture: Woman, Goddess, and Idol, 1910-1935, Essay by Gerald Nordland. |
| 2003 |
February 8–May 4 |
June 21–September 7
Travelling Exhibition: La Piscine, Musee d'art et d'industrie de Roubaix, Roubaix, France. Gaston Lachaise, 1882-1935. Travelled to: Galleria Nazionale d'artemoderna, Museo Hendrik C. Andersen, Rome, Gaston Lachaise, 1882-1935. French Catalogue: (Editions Gallimard). Essays by Bruno Gaudichon, Louise Bourgeois, Jean Clair, Hilton Kramer, Paula Hornbostel and Gaston Lachaise, poem by Baudelaire. More information under Exhibitions |
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October 10–January 11, 2004
Exhibition: Il Museo Hendrik C. Andersen, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy. Gaston Lachaise More information under Exhibitions |
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| 2004 |
January 22–May 9
Exhibition*: Museo d'arte moderna, Bologna, Italy. Il Nudo fra Ideale e Realtà (The Nude: Ideal and Reality). |
March
Travelling Exhibition*: Grand Palais, Paris, France. Great Parade: The Artist as Clown, Grand Palais, Paris. Travelled to: National Gallery of Canada, Ottowa, June 25–September 19, 2004. |
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June 16–September 30
Exhibition: Museums of the Departement du Lot: Musée Rignault, St. Cirq-la-Popie; Musée Zadkine, Les Arques; Conseil Générale, Cahors; Gaston Lachaise, 1882–1935. More information under Exhibitions |
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| 2005 |
September 29–January 8, 2006
Exhibition: Szépmûvészeti Múseum, Budapest, Hungary. Gaston Lachaise, 1882-1935. More information under Exhibitions |
| 2006 |
October 18–January 7, 2007
Exhibition: Veletržní Palác, Narodni Galerie (Tradefair Palace, part of the National Gallery); Prague, Czech Republic. Gaston Lachaise (1882–1935). More information under Exhibitions |
| 2007 |
September 8–October 28
Exhibition: New Orleans Museum of Art New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Gaston Lachaise (1882–1935). More information under Exhibitions |
November 17–February 24, 2008
Exhibition: Nasher Scupture Center Dallas, Texas, United States. Woman: The Art of Gaston Lachaise. More information under Exhibitions |
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| 2010 |
January 12–April 30, 2010
Exhibition: Naples Museum of Art Naples, Florida, United States. Woman: The Art of Gaston Lachaise.
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| 2011 |
March 8–June 5, 2011
Exhibition: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza Madrid, Spain. Heroínas — Video for Exhibition Lachaise included in Heroínas, an exhibit which looked at the depiction of women in active roles and at the gender identity crisis in western art. with Dosso Dossi, Dante Rossetti, Mapplethorpe, Marina Abromović, Mona Hatoum, Kiki Smith, Nancy Spero, and others. More information under Exhibitions |
| 2012- Present |
Please visit the Bibliography and Exibitions pages for ongoing updates and more information. |
