Small Seated Maternity | MACA - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante

Julio González

Small seated maternity

1933-1934

Technical data

Authorship:

Julio González

Title:

Small seated maternity

Date:

1933-1934

Dimensions:

13 x 11 x 7 cm

Collection it belongs to:

Collection 20th Century Art

Inventory no.:

XX.065

Photographs

Artwork text

This Small Seated Maternity was a gift from Roberta González to Eusebio Sempere as a token of their great friendship, along with the paintings Montserrat criant nº 2 and Nature morte, another sculpture and approximately thirty drawings by Julio González, as Sempere himself declared in 1976. The collection of works by the artist constitutes one of the most singular testimonies of the affective and intellectual bond that united the Alicante-born artist with the González family.

This sculpture belongs to the moment of González's maximum creative maturity. Originally carved in wood revealing the texture of the material, it was cast in bronze by the Valsuani workshop in Paris, in an edition of three numbered copies, of which this specimen preserved in the collection is number 3. It is contemporary with the Large Maternity and the Small Maternity —both from around 1934—, works in which the theme of mother and child was approached with a filiform and vertical style. The result in this case, however, is a compact and static figure in which the mother becomes the support for the child, reduced to a vertical and ascending form that contrasts with the mass that sustains it. A synthesis of great formal economy that connects, almost unintentionally, with the millennial tradition of Romanesque wooden virgins that hold their child in their lap.

Exhibitions

- "Julio González", Madrid, Santa Catalina del Ateneo hall, from March 17 to April 18, 1960. Traveling exhibition: Barcelona, Palau de la Virreina, from April 27 to May 27, 1960. - "González", Stockholm, Galerie Samlaren, from December 7, 1963 to January 4, 1964. - "Julio González", Venice, XXXII Venice Biennale, France Pavilion, from June 20 to October 18, 1964. - "Julio González", Paris, Galerie Carmen Martínez, from November 20 to December 31, 1975. - "The Revolution in Sculpture in the 20th Century", Vitoria, Caja Vital Kutxa Foundation, 2001. - "Three Sculptors in Paris: Manolo Hugué, Pablo Gargallo and Julio González", Sabadell, Caixa Sabadell Foundation, 2002. - "Julio González and his Family Circle, Joan and Roberta", Logroño, Amós Salvador Hall, March-May 2006. Traveling exhibition: Valladolid, Museum of the Passion, May-June 2006.

Bibliografía

- "Story of a Week", Madrid, SP-World Information Magazine, 1959, p.37;il.

- Julio González, Madrid/Barcelona, Sala Santa Catalina del Ateneo/Palau de la Virreina, 1960, cat 23;il.

- Julio González, Venice, XXXII Biennale of Venice, France Pavilion, 1964, cat.103.

- González, Stockholm, Galerie Samlaren, 1963, cat.10, fig II; il.

- Pradel, Marie N.: Julio González, Milan, Fratelli Fabbri Editori, 1966, pp.1-16, cat.40.

- Aguilera Cerni, Vicente: Julio, Joan, Roberta González: Itinerary of a Dynasty, Barcelona, Polígrafa, 1973, p.337, cat. 435; il.

- Julio González, Paris, Galerie Carmen Martínez, 1975.

- Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art. General Catalog, Madrid, 1975, p. 148;il.

- Withers, Josephine: Julio González: Sculpture in iron, New York, 1978, cat. Nº 70; il.

- Bonet Correa, Antonio: Municipal Museum "Casa de la Asegurada", 20th Century Art Collection, Alicante, Ed. Municipal Museum "Casa de la Asegurada", 1981, il. p. 32.

- González: Sculptures, Drawings, Basel, Galerie Beyeler, 1982, cat. 26;il.

- Mekert, Jörn: Julio González. Catalogue raisonné of Sculptures, Milan, Electa, 1987, cat. 163;il.

- Rowell, M.: Julio González. The IVAM Collections, New Acquisitions, Valencia, 1993, p.40 (original in wood);il.

- Gaceta del Arte and its Era. 1932-1936, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Atlantic Center of Modern Art, 1997, p.157;il. (original in wood).

- The Revolution in Sculpture in the 20th Century, Vitoria, Caja Vital Kutxa Foundation, 2001.

- Three Sculptors in Paris: Manolo Hugué, Pablo Gargallo and Julio González, Sabadell, Caixa Sabadell Foundation, 2002, p. 76-77: il.

- Julio González and his Family Circle, Joan and Roberta, Logroño, Cultural Rioja, 2006, p. 29:il.

-Castells González, Rosa Mª: "Eusebio Sempere as Collector. The 20th Century Art Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Alicante" in Atlas Sempere Canelobre nº 69, Alicante, Alicantine Institute of Culture, 2018, p. 280-291.

Artist

Julio González

Barcelona, Spain , 1876 - 1876

On May 27, 1876, he was born in Barcelona into a family of craftsmen. In 1900 he moved with his family to Paris where he came into contact with other Spanish artists such as Gargallo, Sabartés, Hugué, and Picasso. During this period he was clearly in...

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