Derby stone
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
C Frank Stoop
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/henri-gaudier-brzeska-1143" aria-label="More by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Henri Gaudier-Brzeska</a>
Singer
Presented by C. Frank Stoop through the Contemporary Art Society 1930
actions: postures and motions
adults
arts and entertainment
female
fine arts and music
leisure and pastimes
music and entertainment
nudes
objects
people
sculpture, classical
singer
singing
standing
woman
work and occupations
<p>This was one of Gaudier-Brzeska’s largest sculptures to date, and was probably carved as a garden ornament. Its style and the pose of the figure reveal his interest in ancient Greek sculpture. The suggestion that the figure is emerging from a block of stone was an effect Gaudier-Brzeska borrowed from the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The subject of a singer was quite rare in sculpture. It might suggest that the sculptor releases life from stone like a singer releasing a song from their body.</p><p><em>Gallery label, April 2021</em></p>
sculpture derby stone
1 February 2001 – 2 June 2003
2003-06-02
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2001-02-01
Modern British Art II
Collection based display
24 October 2009 – 24 January 2010
2010-01-24
24 October 2009 – 24 January 2010
2010-01-24
2009-10-24
Royal Academy of Arts (London, UK)
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk
2009-10-24
WILD THING: Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier Brzeska and Eric Gill
Loan-out
30 September 2010 – 15 May 2011
2011-05-15
30 September 2010 – 9 January 2011
2011-01-09
2010-09-30
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University (Durham, USA)
5 February 2011 – 15 May 2011
2011-05-15
2011-02-05
Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice, Italy)
http://www.guggenheim-venice.it/
22 June 2011 – 18 September 2011
2011-09-18
2011-06-22
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-09-30
Vorticism
Loan-out
30 September 2010 – 4 September 2011
2011-09-04
30 September 2010 – 2 January 2011
2011-01-02
2010-09-30
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University (Durham, USA)
29 January 2011 – 15 May 2011
2011-05-15
2011-01-29
Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice, Italy)
http://www.guggenheim-venice.it/
14 June 2011 – 4 September 2011
2011-09-04
2011-06-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-09-30
The Vorticists: Manifesto for a Modern World
Exhibition
30 November 2012 – 25 September 2022
2022-09-25
30 November 2012
2012-11-30
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-30
Gallery 3
Collection based display
20 May 2024
20 May 2024
2024-05-20
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2024-05-20
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
Collection based display
Singer
object: 851 × 216 × 159 mm
 Permanently attached to MDF plinth base 25 x292 × 310mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999963" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">C. Frank Stoop</a> through the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1930
<div class="text">
<p>This was one of Gaudier-Brzeska’s largest sculptures to date, and was probably carved as a garden ornament. Its style and the pose of the figure reveal his interest in ancient Greek sculpture. The suggestion that the figure is emerging from a block of stone was an effect Gaudier-Brzeska borrowed from the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The subject of a singer was quite rare in sculpture. It might suggest that the sculptor releases life from stone like a singer releasing a song from their body.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2021-04-20T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N04514</b> SINGER 1913
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Derby stone, 33 1/2×8 1/2×6 1/4 (85×22×16), including base.
<br/>Presented by C. Frank Stoop through the Contemporary Art Society 1930.
<br/><i>Coll:</i>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gaudier-brzeska-singer-n04514" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04514</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gaudier-brzeska-vulture-iv-n04533" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04533</span></a> were accepted by the Tate Gallery in November 1926 as a permanent loan from the intestate estate of the late Miss Sophie Brzeska through the Treasury Solicitor. They were acquired by C. Frank Stoop in 1930 for presentation.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> London Group, March 1915 (95), as ‘Singer’; <i>Vorticist Exhibition</i>, Doré Galleries, June 1915 (e); Leicester Galleries, May–June 1918 (100); Temple Newsam, Leeds, June–August 1943 (64), as ‘La Chanteuse Triste’; Arts Council, 1956–7 (17), as ‘La Chanteuse Triste’.
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Pound, 1916, pp.89–90, 159, repr. pls. 23 and 24; Ezra Pound in exh. cat., Leicester Galleries, May–June 1918; Gaudier in Ede, 1930, pp.196–7; Palmer in <i>Studio</i>, CLIII, 1957, p.178.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>The Egoist</i>, 1, 16 February 1914, p.80, with No.T.542, as ‘Two Statues’; Ede, 1930, pl.33; Herbert Maryon, <i>Modern Sculpture</i>, 1933, pl.113; Pound, 1957, p.3.</p>
<p>Dated 1913 in Gaudier's list of his works, 9 July 1914, and entitled simply ‘Chanteuse’; it was first exhibited as ‘Singer’. It was first referred to as ‘La Chanteuse Triste’ by Pound in 1916; he wrote of it, 1918, ‘In the Singer we have what may seem an influence from archaic Greek, we have the crossed arms motif...also an elongation possibly ascribable to a temporary admiration of the Gothic.’</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-20T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults arts and entertainment female fine arts and music leisure and pastimes music and entertainment nudes objects people sculpture, classical singer singing standing woman work and occupations