ODALISCA

Lapini, C.

Marble

1875

X1987.04.01

Italian artist Cesare Lapini sculpted Odalisca-a classically styled tribute to odalisques (female slaves or concubines from the Ottoman Empire)-in the late nineteenth century. August Fack (1856-1917), art collector and proprietor of the upscale California Wine House in Helena, acquired the white marble statue for $7,200 (approximately $175,000 in modern currency) circa 1900. Odalisca held a prominent place at the wine house among Fack's C. M. Russell paintings and other impressive works of art. The wine house and its art collection changed hands in the 1910s. After Prohibition, owner Harvey Fister moved Odaslica to his nearby Harvey Hotel on North Main Street. When fire swept through the block in 1928, Odalisca fell through the floor and suffered damage. The fan handle, her left hand, and the tips of three fingers on her right hand were lost. Though scorched by fire and missing pieces, she remains a romantic, dancing figure captured eternally in mid-step.