Julio González

Private Collection, Paris
Sale: Briest, Paris, September 18, 1999, lot 16
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

John Merkert, Julio González, Catalogue raisonné des sculptures, Milan, 1987, no. 205, illustration of another cast p. 221

Excellent condition. Bronze, dark brown patina. There are some areas of exposed bronze in the more roughly textured surfaces, but over excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Femme assise III is the third and final example in a series of increasingly abstracted treatments of the seated female form conceived by the artist between 1935 and 1936. In the present work, González has arrived at a truly liberated style of open-form sculpture, wherein the end result is no longer beholden to the original model (in this case a seated woman), but is free to act as an autonomous extrapolation of conceptual material. Whereas the previous two versions of Femme Assise retained filiform representations of hair and were clearly "seated" on block-like "chairs" (fig. 2), Femme assise III signals a departure from such literal references and instead draws its strength from the textured surfaces and wrought curvature of the metal itself. A master blacksmith, González's works are deeply involved with the process of developing form through the relation of metal parts and the relevant techniques of hammering and welding.

This open, conceptual approach to metalwork has come to epitomize González's legacy as transcending the traditional confines of sculptural representation. While the artist's well known collaboration with Picasso in the early 1930s certainly influenced González's approach to sculpture, he did not share Picasso's loyalty to his subject. Margit Rowell writes that while Picasso's sculptures always clearly read as figures, "González's sculpture always solicits us first as an abstract structure which only with time can be read as an anthropomorphic figure" (Margit Rowell, "Julio González: The Birth of Modern Iron Sculpture," Julio González, Catalogue raisonné des sculptures, Milan, 1987, p. 336).

Femme assise III follows this rubric closely, challenging its human inspiration in order to emerge as something conceptually greater. As González himself explained: "A statue of a woman can also be a woman (a portrait) which one should be able to see from all sides; from all aspects, she is a representation of nature... But, if in a certain attitude, she is holding an olive branch, she is no longer a woman. She has become the symbol of Peace. [Once she has] become a symbol, do not walk around her, for as soon as you no longer see the attribute, she again becomes [simply] a woman. So this classic art, which was thought complete, actually is not simply because of its solid material" (quoted in Josephine Withers, Julio González, Sculpture in Iron, New York, 1978, p. 73).

Fig. 1 Another view of the present work

Fig. 2 Julio González, Femme Assise I, circa 1935, iron