Lot Essay
The woman swinging from the hammock is a theme in which the artist has taken a particular interest and has repeated several times in different materials and sizes. One of them, La Hamaca (1957), is today in the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City, and is carved in xaltocan stone.
According to the Art critic Margarita Nelken, who wrote in the Excelsior newspaper, June 1957, 'A single work of Woman on a Hammock, by Zúñiga is sufficient to win a statuary place in the ranks of world art. This figure is so superbly assertive in its resolution, that it is justly balanced in its density and line and one has no hesitation in proclaming this sculpture as one that conveys the plastic feeling of our time'.
Zúñiga remains faithful to the Mexican indigenous tradition and captures the influences of such European artists as Moore and Brancusi who were among those artists he so greatly admired.
The present lot is the first terracota ever to be sold in New York City by Zúñiga.
According to the Art critic Margarita Nelken, who wrote in the Excelsior newspaper, June 1957, 'A single work of Woman on a Hammock, by Zúñiga is sufficient to win a statuary place in the ranks of world art. This figure is so superbly assertive in its resolution, that it is justly balanced in its density and line and one has no hesitation in proclaming this sculpture as one that conveys the plastic feeling of our time'.
Zúñiga remains faithful to the Mexican indigenous tradition and captures the influences of such European artists as Moore and Brancusi who were among those artists he so greatly admired.
The present lot is the first terracota ever to be sold in New York City by Zúñiga.