Born in the Ukraine, Alexander Archipenko came to New York at the age of 36 and five years later became a citizen of the United States. His work was first introduced to American audiences in the momentous Armory Show of 1913. A strong interest in primitive and archaic art molded Archipenko’s views on sculpture. He was one of the first sculptors to analyze the human body in terms of its abstract rhythmic alternation of convex and concave volumes. Although Archipenko rejected the Cubist label, as early as 1910 he made sculptures using sequences of geometric volumes.

Turning Torso is presented in this installation of The Andersen Window Gallery with Edward Hopper’s Office at Night to illustrate the ways in which forms recur throughout the history of art. This comparison sheds light on the Hopper figure as one with art historical roots in the tradition of “contrapposto,” a term used to describe figures depicted with their hips, shoulders, and heads on different planes.