Sold for: $73,250

PROVENANCE
Studio of the Artist
Galerie Daniel Malingue, Paris,
Galerie Jean-Pierre Joubert, Paris
Sold sale of Tableaux Modernes, C. Boisgirard, Drouot-Montaigne, Paris, December 4, 1992, lot 120
Private Collection, Vancouver

EXHIBITED
Galerie Daniel Malingue, Paris, Lobo, May 27 - July 9, 1988, Paris, edition 2/8 shown
Museum of Contemporary Art, Caracas, Lobo, November 1989, edition 7/8 shown

Throughout his career, Spanish sculptor Baltasar Lobo focused on interpreting the human form. Celebrated for his stylized depictions of the female nude and maternity, Lobo used simplified language of geometric forms to create balanced, sensual compositions. Born in 1910 in Zomara, northwestern Spain, at the age of seventeen Lobo received a scholarship to the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. In Madrid, his exposure to ancient Iberian and Cycladic sculpture, piqued an early interest in historical approaches to simplifying the human form. The Cycladic elongated nose would late become a Lobo hallmark. In 1939, Lobo moved to Paris where he associated closely with the modernist arts community, including fellow Spaniards Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro. During this period, Lobo was heavily influenced by Jean Arp and Constantin Brancusi and began to employ free flowing, biomorphic forms to further simplify his figures. Although unlike Arp or Brancusi, the female form remains overtly present in Lobo’s work. In L'ile du Levant, a work completed in the later stage of his career, Lobo continues to play with and interpret the possibilities of figuration.

The title of this work refers to L'ile du Levant, a French Mediterranean island off the coast of Toulon. Since 1931, the island’s “Heliopolis” village has become a popular naturalist destination. Nudity is obligatory on the beaches, and permitted in most public spaces. With this in mind, one can imagine the subject of Lobo’s work stretching her torso indulgently in the Mediterranean sun.

Galería Freites will include this work in their forthcoming Baltasar Lobo catalogue raisonné under the archive number 8612.

Included with the sale of this work is a letter of authenticity from Galerie Daniel Malingue, signed by Daniel Malingue and with a fingerprint, July 1, 1989. The letter also states that this work is included in the Galerie Daniel Malingue archives, #8612.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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