Espagnole à la mantille (Version I)

Details

Pablo Gargallo (1881-1934)
Espagnole à la mantille (Version I)
cut and shaped iron with dark brown patina
18 ¼ in. (46 cm.) high, excluding the rectangular base
Executed in 1930; this work is unique

Provenance

Dr Nahas, Paris.
Private collection, Paris, by 1960.
Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris, by 1971.
Artcurial, Paris.
Acquired from the above on 6 June 1986.

Literature

P. Courthion & P. Anguera-Gargallo, Pablo Gargallo, L'oeuvre complet, Milan, 1973, no. 132, p. 154 (illustrated).
P. Gargallo-Anguera, Pablo Gargallo, catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1998, no. 174, p. 182 (illustrated; medium stated as 'copper').

Exhibited

Barcelona, Sala Parés, Gargallo, Exposició d'Escultures, December 1934.
Barcelona, Sala Parés, Exposició d'Homenatge a l'escultor Pau Gargallo, January - February 1935.
Madrid, Museo de Arte Moderno, Pablo Gargallo, Escultor, Exposición póstuma de sus obras, March 1935.
New York, Galerie René Gimpel, A Memorial Exhibition of Iron Sculptures by Pablo Gargallo, December 1936 - January 1937, no. 3 (titled 'L'espagnole').
Paris, Jardins du Petit Palais, Exposition d'un ensemble de sculptures de Gargallo, May 1947.
Massachusetts, Brandeis University, Cubist Sculpture, October 1961; this exhibition later travelled to Pennsylvania, Allentown Art Museum, November - December 1961; Michigan, Hackley Art Gallery, January 1962; North Carolina, University of North Carolina, Ackland Art Centre, February 1962; and Michigan, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, April - May 1962.
Duisburg, Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum der Stadt, Gargallo, November - December 1966, no. 60 (illustrated; titled 'Spanierin').
Paris, Musée Rodin, Pablo Gargallo, April - June 1970, no. 72 (illustrated).
Madrid, Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Gargallo, 1881-1934, October - November 1971, no. 55, p. 33 (illustrated p. 83); this exhibition later travelled to Barcelona, Palau de la Virreina, December 1971 - January 1972.
Paris, Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, Pablo Gargallo, 1881-1934, December 1980 - March 1981, no. 91 (illustrated; dated '1929-1930'); this exhibition later travelled to Barcelona, Palau de la Virreina, April - May 1981, no. 102, p. 182 (illustrated p. 142; dated '1929-1930').
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Sculpture du XXe siècle, 1900-1945, Tradition et ruptures, July - October 1981, no. 81, p. 106 (illustrated p. 104).
Madrid, Palacio de Cristal, Gargallo, October - November 1981, no. 157, p. 160 (illustrated pp. 86 & 160).
Paris, Artcurial, Les noces catalanes, Barcelone-Paris, 1870-1970, May - July 1985, no. 63, p. 106 (illustrated p. 57; medium stated as 'copper').
Barcelona, Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Gargallo, October 2006 - January 2007; this exhibition later travelled to Zaragoza, La Lonja, February - April 2007, no. 77, p. 294 (illustrated p. 189; medium stated as 'copper').
San Sebastián, Sala de Kubo Kutxa, Pablo Gargallo, July - September 2007, p. 72 (illustrated p. 73).
Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, La Noche Española, Flamenco, Vanguardia y Cultura Popular 1865-1939, December 2007 - March 2008.

Brought to you by

Katharine Cooke

kcooke@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2343

Lot Essay

Growing up in Barcelona, Pablo Gargallo emerged from the same artistic heritage as his famed contemporary Pablo Picasso. Working in bronze and stone from the tender age of fourteen, like his fellow countryman, Gargallo was determined to discover a new sculptural medium that would not only rival the gravity and longevity of these revered, time-honoured materials, but one that would likewise come to symbolise the explorative nature of his avant-garde practice. To this effect, by 1907, the artist began working almost exclusively in iron, becoming particularly fascinated by the versatility of sheet metal which was at once both hard and soft, rigid and malleable. As Espagnole à la mantille (Version I) illustrates, Gargallo exploited the material possibilities of this new medium, layering thin, delicately shaped forms on top of another to create an unrivalled sense of three-dimensional volume and space.

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