Homme
90.8 cms x 70.5 cms (35.75 ins x 27.75 ins)
Signed and dated 1994 and on verso titled on the didier imbert label and numbered 3018 on a label
made in 1994
Lot offered for sale by Heffel, Vancouver at the auction event "October 2012 Online auction" held on Thu, Oct 25, 2012.
Lot 104
Lot 104
Estimate: CAD $100,000 - $150,000
Realised: CAD $88,920
Realised: CAD $88,920
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
Didier Imbert Fine Art, Paris (label on verso)
Private Collection, Vancouver
Exhibitions:
Didier Imbert Fine Art, Paris, France, Fernando Botero: Pastels, October 6 - December 15, 1995
Literature:
Werner Spies, Botero: Paintings and Drawings, 2007, pages 8, 11, 161 and 1963
Notes:
Fernando Botero is from Medellín in Columbia, an isolated but beautiful Spanish town where he had little exposure to art. However his travels, beginning with his training at the Academy in Florence and his great interest in the painting of central Italy, expanded his horizons. He now lives most of the time in New York and Paris. Botero encountered such powerful movements as Abstract Expressionism, but resisted such modernist influences. Rather, he looked back to the work of figurative painters of the Trecento and Quattrocento, while remaining connected to South America in his memories, fantasies and images, expressed in his unique style.
His paintings and pastels are known for their strong sense of space and volume, and his distinctive figures for their rotundness. Botero loves beauty, and in people it is not the western concept of beauty in thinness, but that of Spanish-speaking countries, more associated with, as Werner Spies writes, "the roundness of a handsome, well-nourished person." This accentuated corporeality creates a distortion of form. Regarding his intention, Botero stated, "The deformation you see is the result of my involvement with painting. The monumental and, in my eyes, sensually provocative volumes stem from this. Whether they appear fat or not really does not interest me. It has hardly any meaning for my painting. My concern is with formal fullness, abundance. And that is something entirely different." His affinity with painters such as Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Rubens and Ingres included their approach to figures, who as he stated, "all depict figures of a certain fullness."
In Homme, Botero's figure casts a cool gaze, not at the viewer, but into space. This was intentional, and Botero declared, "I want the figures to gaze into emptiness. I want to paint people as still lifes." There are recurrent archetypal figures in his work, such as this man, seen in numerous works with his small moustache, close cropped hair, distinctive hat and round face with arched eyebrows. Botero creates a palpable atmosphere of sensuality, which emanates from the fleshy physicality of the man and objects such as the fruit and glass of beer or wine, as well as the rich colouration of pastel, which makes the simple interior sumptuous. A strong element of visual interest is added by the bare lightbulb, which, with its emanation of light, draws the eye to the man's face. Homme is an outstanding example of Botero's tactile and sensual approach to the figure.
Didier Imbert Fine Art, Paris (label on verso)
Private Collection, Vancouver
Exhibitions:
Didier Imbert Fine Art, Paris, France, Fernando Botero: Pastels, October 6 - December 15, 1995
Literature:
Werner Spies, Botero: Paintings and Drawings, 2007, pages 8, 11, 161 and 1963
Notes:
Fernando Botero is from Medellín in Columbia, an isolated but beautiful Spanish town where he had little exposure to art. However his travels, beginning with his training at the Academy in Florence and his great interest in the painting of central Italy, expanded his horizons. He now lives most of the time in New York and Paris. Botero encountered such powerful movements as Abstract Expressionism, but resisted such modernist influences. Rather, he looked back to the work of figurative painters of the Trecento and Quattrocento, while remaining connected to South America in his memories, fantasies and images, expressed in his unique style.
His paintings and pastels are known for their strong sense of space and volume, and his distinctive figures for their rotundness. Botero loves beauty, and in people it is not the western concept of beauty in thinness, but that of Spanish-speaking countries, more associated with, as Werner Spies writes, "the roundness of a handsome, well-nourished person." This accentuated corporeality creates a distortion of form. Regarding his intention, Botero stated, "The deformation you see is the result of my involvement with painting. The monumental and, in my eyes, sensually provocative volumes stem from this. Whether they appear fat or not really does not interest me. It has hardly any meaning for my painting. My concern is with formal fullness, abundance. And that is something entirely different." His affinity with painters such as Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Rubens and Ingres included their approach to figures, who as he stated, "all depict figures of a certain fullness."
In Homme, Botero's figure casts a cool gaze, not at the viewer, but into space. This was intentional, and Botero declared, "I want the figures to gaze into emptiness. I want to paint people as still lifes." There are recurrent archetypal figures in his work, such as this man, seen in numerous works with his small moustache, close cropped hair, distinctive hat and round face with arched eyebrows. Botero creates a palpable atmosphere of sensuality, which emanates from the fleshy physicality of the man and objects such as the fruit and glass of beer or wine, as well as the rich colouration of pastel, which makes the simple interior sumptuous. A strong element of visual interest is added by the bare lightbulb, which, with its emanation of light, draws the eye to the man's face. Homme is an outstanding example of Botero's tactile and sensual approach to the figure.
Most realised prices include the Buyer's Premium of 18-25%, but not the HST/GST Tax.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.