Sotheby's New York (Collection of Eleanore and Daniel Saidenberg). Brancusi essentially worked as a renown sculptor but produced many studies, notably portraits of women. These works which number between forty-five and fifty represent more than 25 per cent of his total activity as a draughtsman. The type of figure represented in the present work executed after 1912 may be traced back to a drawing such as the study of Mademoiselle Pogany in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In this work, however, the use of a heavy layer of gouache in glowing colours creates the effect of fresco. Brancusi gave it to the American artist Charles Sheeler whose apartment he used as his informal New York headquarters when he came to the U.S in connection with an exhibition of his sculptures. It carried an estimate of $ 150,000 to 200,000.
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