拍品 491
  • 491

FERNANDO BOTERO | Niño mordido por un perro

估價
300,000 - 400,000 USD
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招標截止

描述

  • 費南度·波特羅
  • Niño mordido por un perro
  • signed and dated 69; signed, titled and dated 69 on the reverse
  • oil on canvas
  • 46 1/4 by 37 1/4 in. 117.5 by 94.6 cm.

來源

Marlborough Gallery, New York
Private Collection, Washington, D.C. (acquired from the above circa 1985) 
Thence by descent to the present owner

出版

Giorgi Soavi, Botero, Milan 1988, cat. no. 146, p. 174, illustrated

Condition

This work is in very good condition overall. The canvas is unlined and well-stretched. The colors are vibrant, and the media layer is stable. Under raking light inspection, a faint stretcher mark becomes apparent across the center of the work. A few minor pinpoint media losses are present around the extreme edges of the canvas due to frame abrasion.
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.

拍品資料及來源

Youthfully outfitted in a blue sailor’s uniform, Fernando Botero’s Niño mordido por un perro is an outstanding example of the artist’s signature style. Soft, tufted green trees provide a verdant environment for a moment of interrupted play, as Botero presents us a young boy just after a bite from an unseen dog. Painted in 1969 as Botero’s international renown was rapidly growing, the Colombian painter’s mastery of color is in clear evidence here. The subtle interplay between the blues of the boy’s eyes, the sky, and his jacket and the tender pinks contributes to the sweet melancholy of the image. Characteristically for Botero, this universal childhood experience is presented with a lightly sarcastic tone; “Botero’s world is peopled with a cast of characters who are generally absurd and a little pathetic, doing mostly very ordinary things. But there is a warmth of approach and a human sympathy which saves them from the ugly and once seen they are never forgotten” (Tracy Atkinson, Botero, Munich 1970, p. 3). In Niño mordido por un perro, humor and melodrama come in through subtle details, in particular from the fine but bright shock of blood and the cartoonishly jagged shape of the bitemark. Conversely, the boy’s gleaming tears and the stick in his hand, perhaps about to be thrown to the dog outside the frame, evoke a genuine pathos and may call to mind the viewer’s own memories of skinned knees, cat scratches, and other tribulations of childhood.

Botero’s often-silly and always-endearing characters such as Niño mordido por un perro hold up a mirror to our own lives. In their stocky monumentality, they offer glimpses of our earnestness, sweetness, frailty and foolishness writ large.