Chaim Gross — Charcoal Studies for Acrobatic Figures

Chaim Gross — Charcoal Studies for Acrobatic Figures

Date: c. 1930s–1940s
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Dimensions: 18 ½ × 11 ¾ in.
Signature: Lower right, “Chaim Gross”

Description

This large, dynamic charcoal sheet contains multiple explorations of stacked, twisting, and inverted figures—classic themes in Chaim Gross’s early sculptural development. Rendered with strong tonal contrasts and rapid gestural strokes, the drawing demonstrates how Gross solved problems of balance, rhythm, and interlocking anatomy while planning his carved wooden acrobat compositions.

The sheet includes several viewpoints:
– a tall, vertically stacked acrobatic column,
– a crouching central female figure,
– and two subsidiary studies showing alternate poses and rotations.

Together, these drawings reveal Gross working through the bodily dynamics that would define his signature carvings of the 1930s and ’40s.

Provenance

Lombardo Collection → Velvet Foundation for the Arts (VLAF)

Comparable Works / Cross-Reference

Multiple related sheets appear in Josef Vincent Lombardo’s Catalogue Raisonné of the Sculpture of Chaim Gross, where similar acrobatic studies accompany completed lignum-vitae carvings.