FRANCISCO ZÚÑIGA | Juchiteca de pie

Galerie Charpentier, Paris
Private Collection (acquired from the above and sold: Christie's, New York, May 18, 1988, lot 28) 
Private Collection (acquired from the above and sold: Christie's, New York, November 16, 1994, lot 38)
Private Collection, Mexico
Acquired from the above 

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Francisco Zúñiga, Sculptures et dessins, 1986, no. 21, illustrated in the catalogue 

Fundación Zúñiga, Francisco Zúñiga, Catálogo Razonado/Catalogue Raisonné, Volumen I/Volume I, Escultura/Sculpture, Mexico City, 1991, no. 460, illustrated p. 285

This work is in good and sound condition overall. Minor chips measuring less than 1/2 inch in diameter are present throughout the lowermost edge of the base. Very faint surface scratches encircling the figure are present, two around the knees and three around the torso. Three white diagonal surface scuffs measuring two inches in length are present on the back of the proper left leg, and one on the back of the proper right. Under raking light inspection, a few scattered handling marks become apparent in the lower half of the work around the legs. Two isolated areas of faint milky surface deposits become apparent, one in the proper right underarm, the other at the back of the proper left leg.
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.

Francisco Zúñiga, originally from Guatemala, found in Mexico City the beating cultural heart of the region, an epicenter of modern life built on top of the greatest ancient city in North America, the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. Although he admired and studied the technical achievements of nineteenth- and twentieth-century masters, particularly Rodin and Moore, in his mature production he pivoted away from the dominant influence of the Western sculptural canon, looking instead to pre-Columbian sculpture for inspiration. He described his entrancing experiences upon arriving in Mexico in a letter to a friend: “I spent most of my days in the Museum of History and Archaeology; I went to the museum every day to study and draw. I was enraptured by the works in stone, with something akin to fear and enchantment, and I began to study them one by one …In those days, I could touch the works, differentiating every texture. Today, you cannot do this. I studied every porous stone, the highly polished textures, their forms; they had the coldness of steel” (Sheldon Reich, Francisco Zúñiga, Sculptor: Conversations and Interpretations, Tucson, 1980, p. 14). This formative, mystical experience awakened Zúñiga’s desire to connect to the past through careful observation of nature, to seek timeless beauty in the eternal medium of bronze. He would go on to monumentalize not the lithe athletes of classical antiquity, but the strength of Mexico’s indigenous women. In Juchiteca de pie, the influence of both Henry Moore's sleek, modern bodies and the angular, reverently gleaming forms of Olmec sculpture are evident. The soft, realistic details in her face however suggest that, characteristically of this period, Juchiteca de pie is sculpted from life; Zúñiga selected models not only for beauty but for their vitality. At once a naturalistic, emotive portrait and an icon of indigenous strength, this timeless figure gazes stoically ahead to the future. Zúñiga monumentalizes “hieratical… mestiza women—beings whose nation has lived and continues to live between greatness and misery, between hope and despair, people who… believe in…  the breath of life that animates them and in the elementary realities of human existence: children, bread, the sun that touches the skin” (Francisco Zúñiga & Carlos Echeverría, Francisco Zúñiga, Mexico City, 1980, p. 25).



We wish to thank Ariel Zúñiga for his kind assistance in confirming the authenticity of this work.