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Lot Essay
Model and muse to some of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, Kiki de Montparnasse, née Alice Prin, rose from humble origins to become one of the central figures of the Parisian avant-garde. Finding her way as an artist's model from a tender age, Kiki soon became intricately woven into the fabric of the flourishing bohemian society of Montparnasse, posing for painters, sculptors and photographers by day, while frequenting the many cafés and roaring bars which lined the streets by night.
With her rebellious black bob and infamous joie de vivre, Kiki symbolised the liberated, no-holds-barred attitude of the early 1920s, becoming a fast favourite of artists such as Man Ray and Moïse Kisling— and eventually earning the title as the undisputed 'Queen of Montparnasse'.
Capitalising on the sharp angularity of her iconic bob and heavily kohl-rimmed eyes, Pablo Gargallo found in Kiki the perfect platform through which to fully explore the descriptive potential of negative space— a pursuit which had come to characterise his oeuvre from his earliest sheet metal constructions.
Reducing the figure to its most elemental attributes while still retaining the essential character of his sitter, Gargallo's exploration in bronze was immediately recognised as one of his most successful compositions, with notable examples in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. and Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Pierrette Gargallo-Anguera and Jean Anguera have confirmed the authenticity of this work.
With her rebellious black bob and infamous joie de vivre, Kiki symbolised the liberated, no-holds-barred attitude of the early 1920s, becoming a fast favourite of artists such as Man Ray and Moïse Kisling— and eventually earning the title as the undisputed 'Queen of Montparnasse'.
Capitalising on the sharp angularity of her iconic bob and heavily kohl-rimmed eyes, Pablo Gargallo found in Kiki the perfect platform through which to fully explore the descriptive potential of negative space— a pursuit which had come to characterise his oeuvre from his earliest sheet metal constructions.
Reducing the figure to its most elemental attributes while still retaining the essential character of his sitter, Gargallo's exploration in bronze was immediately recognised as one of his most successful compositions, with notable examples in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. and Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Pierrette Gargallo-Anguera and Jean Anguera have confirmed the authenticity of this work.