Fernando Botero (b. 1932)

Acquired from the artist
Private collection, New York
James Goodman Gallery, New York

Edward J. Sullivan and Jean-Marie Tasset, Fernando Botero. Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné. Paintings 1975-1990, Lausanne, 2000, no. 1983/14, p. 340, illustrated

This painting is in beautiful and original condition. It is still stretched on its original stretcher. The paint layer has not been cleaned, varnished or otherwise disturbed. There is no reason to suppose that there are any retouches and the painting should be hung as is. This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Art Conservation.
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.
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One of the most ubiquitous images throughout the history of art from antiquity to the present is the female nude.  From the Venus of Willendorf (24,000-22,000 B.C.), to Botticelli's The Birth of Venus (c. 1484), to Manet's Olympia (c. 1863), to Picasso's ground-breaking Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), representations of the female body have provided artists with fertile territory for exploring a range of formal, conceptual, political and social concerns. Perhaps no subject matter has occupied Botero's creative process more than the nude.  Furthermore, while he has painted numerous female figures in a variety of poses and situations, the nude depicted in an interior has proven to be particularly fascinating and has provided the artist with ample opportunity to revisit and expand the formal metaphors associated with this recurrent motif throughout the ages.

 

Botero's women are far from being delicate nymphs or love slaves.  They own their pictorial space and stare back at the viewer with a certain matter-of-factness that neutralizes the proverbial "male gaze."  Our protagonist is not demure, but rather she alone dominates her territory and it is the viewer who seems to be caught off guard by her assuredness.  Indeed, never voyeuristic, Botero's sensuous nudes invite the viewer into a dialogue that not only celebrates the female form in all its plenitude and exuberance à la baroque renderings of Rubens and Titian, but suggests a bridge between those art historical antecedents and the possibilities of painting and representations of the body and gender in contemporary art and culture.

 

Painted in 1983, Fernando Botero's Nude is a masterful rendition of one of the artist's favorite subjects, the female in an intimate setting. In the present work, the sitter has been revealed in her bed chamber, by the light blue curtain that has been drawn, perhaps in homage to Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon (see fig. 1). Characteristic of works painted during the height of his career, Nude exacts the flourish that Botero commands with his brush.  Great effort has been put into carefully delineate the figure's coiffed hair, as evidenced by her flowing locks which are even reflected in the mirror.  The woman's delicate flesh has been rendered with soft tones.  She is adorned not only with ruby earrings and other jewels, but also in her eye makeup, carefully applied to complement her eyes.  As the confident sitter gazes directly at us, we are reminded of lost innocence by the apples that rest at her feet.  Her wristwatch is another attribute that tells us not only of vanitas, the passage of time, but also of a possible liaison with someone who may not be a lover, but perhaps a client.