Alexander Archipenko is considered one of the pioneers of modern sculpture. Inspired by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Fernand Léger, he was the first to transfer Cubism to sculpture. While the proportions of the bodies represented in his early works were stocky and stout, he slimmed the limbs down and extended them in an expressive style from 1912 on. With unknown radicality, he punctuated the sculpture with consciously designed hollows and openings that enhanced the syntax of its structure and created a new kind of dialogue between substance and space. Furthermore, the reintroduction of colour to sculpture in Archipenko's 'Sculpto-Peinture' substantiated his reputation as one of the leading sculptors of his time. In the year 1923, he moved to New York, founded a sculpture school, and lived there until his death.
