Jesús Fructuoso Contreras Mexican, 1866-1902

Jésus Fructuoso Contreras was born in Aguascalientes and studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico before moving to Paris. He won a medal at the Exposition Universelle in 1889 and a grand prix in 1900. He was a pupil of Manuel Noreña and executed many monuments and portrait busts for his native Mexico.  Discussing Contreras' work in 1921 Kineton Parkes observed: 'His work has Canova-like qualities, which render it unlike most modern sculpture on the American continent'.   This comment is certainly well illustrated by the present example of L'Eveil.  Another marble version of this model appeared in these rooms as lot 166, 28 October 2003.

RELATED LITERATURE Parkes (1921), vol.1, p.217