Gonzalo Fonseca

Acquired directly from the artist

New York, Kouros Gallery, Torres-García and his Legacy, November - December 1986, p. 11, illustrated 
Washington, D.C., Art Museum of the Americas, Organization of American States, From Torres-García to Soto, June - October 1992, p. 11, illustrated 

The sculpture is in very good condition. It displays an aged surface with scuffs and moderate surface soiling. The surface is inconsistent in appearance with areas of discoloration that are typical of the artist's work. Some of the stone elements with drilled holes are tied to the sculpture and some are not, as is consistent with artist's intent. The cords that are used to secure the elements are in good condition. Three stone losses were observed. Two were on a vertical edge on the construction and the third small loss was on the tip of one of the steps. Several tiny nicks in the stone were noted along the edges and small chips in the stone were found on the bottom edge. The sculpture is structurally sound. (This condition report has been prepared courtesy of Wilson Conservation, LLC)
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.

The sculptural works of Uruguayan artist Gonzalo Fonseca are equally mesmerizing and otherworldly as they are steeped with a postmodern sensibility and intention. The present sculpture, La torre del recién nacido, is emblematic of Fonseca’s complex oeuvre. Having first studied architecture at the Universidad de Montevideo between 1939 and 1942 then painting at the renowned studio Taller Torres-García—founded by the great Modern artist and theorist Joaquín Torres-García—Fonseca eventually left Uruguay permanently in 1949. Traveling throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, specifically to archeological sites (working for a time on excavations in Syria with British archeologist Lancaster Harding and then in Jericho with Kathleen Kenyon), Fonseca permanently settled in New York by 1959 in a studio space on Great Jones Street. His work reaches a pivotal transition point in New York, finally progressing from drawing and painting to sculptural works, freestanding monumental structures, and wall reliefs. Working exclusively in limestone, brownstone, sandstone, and eventually marble (sourced from the quarry of Monte Altissimo in Italy), Fonseca reveals in his three-dimensional creations a complex synthesis of influences ranging from his travels to ancient sites and modern architecture to art theory from his time spent at Taller Torres-García and his interest in natural sciences and world history. “Though [his] sculptures appear inextricably connected to the ancient world, their intent is more postmodern than archeological. To encounter them is to enter an encyclopedia of ideas about the relationship between space, place, and human understanding [.] They ultimately emerge as complex fictions: at once playful and serious, austere and whimsical, and above all archetypal” (Gonzalo Fonseca: At Scale, (exhibition catalogue), New York, 2017, n.p.).

Executed between 1980 and 1986,  La torre del recién nacido (translated as The Tower of the Newly Born) emerges from a period when Fonseca’s sculptures increasingly resembled towers and menhirs; allusions to both sprawling, modern urban buildings and mystical, ancient temples. Two fundamental aspects of his overall body of work are exhibited in La torre. First, the intimate nature of his sculpture is emphasized not only by the modest scale of the work itself but also by the private and intensely personal moments intentionally created by Fonseca for the viewer: small doors and cave-like openings tied with leather strings and filled with small objects (suggestive of ritual offerings) waiting to be discovered; perhaps remnants of a lost, ancient city that we are newly discovering. Secondly, an innate sensitivity towards geometric form, as showcased by masterful carvings of the stone and the delicate etchings along the surface, allude to a greater universal quality of the sculpture itself. Light and shadows are manipulated by a labyrinth-like topography of the both carved and smooth surfaces—in this case a ladder, a recurring symbol throughout Fonseca’s body of work, and delicately etched patterns and words interspersed throughout the surface evoke the enigmatic and the mystical.