Francisco Zúñiga (1912-1998)

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Description

Francisco Zúñiga
Grupo de Cuatro Mujeres de Pie
inscribed with signature, numbered III/III and dated 1974
80 3/4 by 92 1/2 by 47 1/4 in.
(205 by 235 by 120 cm)

bronze

Provenance

Acquired from the artist

Exhibited

Mexico, Salon Nacional de Artes Plasticas, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Fernando Castro Pacheco, Guillermo Meza, Luis Nishizawa, Carlos Orozco Romero, Francisco Zúñiga, 1980, no. 11, p. 167, illustrated, p. 130

Literature

Carlos Francisco Echeverria and Francisco Zúñiga, Francisco Zúñiga, Mexico, Ediciones Galería de Arte Misrachi, 1980, no. 304, p. 269, illustrated
Sheldon Reich, Francisco Zúñiga Sculptor, Conversations and Interpretations, Tucson, The University of Arizona Press, 1980, no. 89, p. 109, illustration of another cast
Marcel Paquet, Zúñiga, La Abstracción Sensible, Mexico, El Taller del Equilibrista, 1989, fig. 2, p. 14, illustration of another cast
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Francisco Zúñiga Escultura, Oaxaca, June-August, 1995, no. 14, illustration of another cast
Francisco Zúñiga, Catalogo Razonado/Catalogue Raisonné (1923-1993), Mexico City, Albedrío/Fundación Zúñiga Laborde, 1999, no. 656, p. 387, illustration of another cast in color, also illustrated in color on the cover, p. 32 and p. 50, illustration of another cast

Catalogue Note

There is little doubt that, where sculpture is concerned, Francisco Zúñiga is one of the distinguished masters. Grupo de Cuatro Mujeres de Pie, 1974, is considered his greatest masterpiece. It is Zúñiga’s answer to Rodin’s Bourgeois de Calais.

Depicting four women standing, one with a child at her feet, it presents all the ages of (wo)man: childhood, adolescence, motherhood, and maturity or old age. The figures face away from each other, absorbed in their thoughts and almost in their own worlds. The lack of interaction among the figures only underscores the power and solidity of each one. In the artist’s words, “There has always been a duality in the tendencies of my work. On the one hand to create something nice, agreeable, aesthetic, with a happy and loving view of life; on the other, a more melancholic and pessimistic vision. This has produced more sensual figures as well as some stronger, more expressive figures.” Grupo de Cuatro Mujeres de Pie is an elegantly hopeful work that reflects the artist’s exceptional skill as a sculptor and portrayer of life.

This is the most important work by Francisco Zúñiga ever to be offered at auction.