Francisco Zúñiga (Mexican, 1912-1998) Dos Mujeres de Pie

1965, incised with signature, date and numbered VI/VI. Bronze with green patina on wood base.
height: 22 7/8 in. (58.1cm)
width: 15 1/2 in. (39.4cm)
depth: 9 in. (22.9cm)
(dimensions do not include base)

Literature

Francisco Zúñiga: Catálogo Razonado, Escultura, Volume I: 1923-1993, México: Fundación Zuñiga Laborde, 1999-2006, no. 445 (another cast illustrated).

Note

We are grateful to Mr. Ariel Zúñiga for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.

In Dos Mujeres de Pie, 1965, Zúñiga addresses his most prevalent subjects: strong, heroic indigenous women. Often carrying children or squatting to cook, these women are powerful figures symbolizing maternity, fertility and strength. Born in 1912 to a family of sculptors, Francisco Zúñiga grew up in Costa Rica before moving permanently to Mexico in 1936. While he created paintings, watercolors and drawings throughout his life, once in Mexico he dedicated his work to sculpture, producing major public works installed around the world. Zúñiga studied art history through books and travel, but his most abiding influences were the pre-Columbian art and indigenous cultures of Mexico and Central America he experienced around him. He once said “an artist should have a very strict relationship with what I call cultural roots, and of course that has nothing to do with nationalistic or political theories.” Dos Mujeres invoke the monumentality for which the artist is best known, while being intimate enough to relate to on a personal level and drawing on the universality of human experience.

Provenance

Private Collection, New York.

Rago Auctions, Lambertville, New Jersey, sale of May 4, 2019, lot 168.

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Private Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.