Julio Gonzalez (1876-1942)

Tête cubiste

Details

Julio Gonzalez (1876-1942)
Tête cubiste
signed with initials and dated 'J.G. 1936 5-11' (lower left)
pen and India ink and colored wax crayons over pencil on paper
8¾ x 4 1/8 in. (22.3 x 10.5 cm.)
Drawn on 5 November 1936

Provenance

Hans Hartung (gift from the artist).
Fondation Hartung (bequest from the above); sale, Christie's, London, 30 June 1999, lot 342.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Literature

J. Gibert, Julio González, Catalogue raisonné des dessins: projets pour sculptures figures, Paris, 1975, vol. VIII, p. 92 (illustrated).

Lot Essay

This drawing is related to a series of expressive and roughly hewn heads that González executed in stone, circa 1934-1936 (cf. Merkert, nos. 182-200). In these sculptures the artist contrasted angled facial features that have been cut deeply into the stone with areas of the surface that remain only crudely finished or are largely unworked. There is also a related forged steel sculpture showing a masque of one side of a face, La tête, circa 1934 (Merkert, no. 197), which González constructed by means of planar elements. There are some drawings that are closely related to the latter sculpture, which actually post-date it (Merkert, nos. 197 D1-4), and were executed around the time of the present work.

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