Signed on base: Botero

Contini Gallery, Venice; Private collection, acquired from the above.

Fernando Botero (1932-2023) Caballo Marble 18-1/2 x 9-1/2 x 18-5/8 inches (47.0 x 24.1 x 47.3 cm) Signed on base: Botero PROVENANCE: Contini Gallery, Venice; Private collection, acquired from the above. NOTE: This sculpture is located in New York City and is being offered in situ. The buyer will be responsible for making deinstallation and shipping arrangements from this location. "For my entire life, I've felt as if I had something to say in terms of sculpture. It's a very strong desire...pleasure-that of touching the new reality that you create. Certainly, in a painting you give the illusion of truth, but with sculpture, you can touch its reality...If I paint a knife in my pictures, it's imaginary, but if I sculpt it, then the sensation of having it in your hand is real- it's an object from your spirit, it's a sensual experience even in its execution. It brings a special joy to touch the material with your hands." -Fernando Botero, as quoted in E. J. Sullivan, Botero Sculpture, New York, 1986, p. 13. Fernando Botero is widely regarded as one of the most famous contemporary Latin American artists. His distinctive style treats figures, objects, and landscapes with a conspicuous and exaggerated voluptuousness. This preoccupation with volume appears as a consistent hallmark throughout Botero's career, from his earliest endeavors as a young prodigy to his later work. A magnificent example of Botero's celebrated style, Caballo possesses the soft rotundity that he so relentlessly pursued, expertly rendered in white marble. In 1972, Botero embarked upon a pivotal artistic exploration, transitioning into sculpture. In this endeavor, he initially experimented with materials such as wood and clay before graduating to the challenges of bronze and marble. A decisive juncture in Botero's developmental journey occurred during the early 1980s when he dedicated his summers to the art of sculpture. His studio during this period was in Pietrasanta, a picturesque town on the Tuscan coast, renowned for attracting an array of illustrious artists, from Michelangelo to Isamu Noguchi and Henry Moore. "It provided the ideal conditions for sculpting," Botero explained. "Centuries of art are breathing there." He considered sculpture "a natural extension" of his painting; "for me," he allows, "sculpture is painting without borders." Botero's sculptural repertoire faithfully echoes the subjects and motifs recurrent in his painted compositions: human figures, both male and female, bathers, dancers, animals, and mythological characters. The monumental quality and sheer physicality of Botero's corpulent figures manifest most vividly within the domain of sculpture. In this medium, the two-dimensional plainness of his pictorial surfaces gives way to a sense of mass and form that reverberates with echoes of the Renaissance masters, notably Giotto, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Uccello, all of whom he studied and deeply admired. Beyond his native Medellín, Colombia, where a multitude of Botero's sculptures can be encountered, his monumental works grace the thoroughfares of major metropolises across the globe, including New York, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Jerusalem, Bamberg in Germany, and Yerevan in Armenia. An illuminating testament to the artist's enduring international appeal was the retrospective exhibition held in 2015. This remarkable undertaking commenced in Beijing and travelled to Shanghai, underscoring Fernando Botero's artistic contributions' global resonance and enduring significance. HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Presents very well. A very few faint scratches on the front legs. A minor chip on front left top corner of base. Minor surface dust.