(born in Medellín, Colombia in 1932; lives and works in Paris and New York)
Girl with a Bow, 1982, bronze with dark brown patina,
signed and numbered Botero 5/9 and stamped with foundry mark, 35 x 37 x 31 cm

We are grateful to Mr. Fernando Botero for confirming the authenticity of this work.

Provenance:
Galerie Veranneman, Kruishoutem
Private Collection, Belgium
acquired from the above in 1983
thence by descent to the present owners

The unmistakable artistic signature of the painter and sculptor Fernando Botero is recognisable in his depiction of round figures with increased body volume and systematically inflated objects. In genre scenes, portraits, nudes, and still lifes, the artist (born in Medellín, Colombia, in 1931) in many ways combines experiences from his homeland as well as the Latin American tradition of equating opulence and beauty with the aesthetic tradition of the West. Botero had already developed his stylistic idiom in the late 1950s, and he perfected it over the decades, during which time he remained as stylistically and thematically faithful as possible.

Aside from a few early sculptural experiments, Botero increasingly turned to sculptural work from 1973 onwards. His sculptures can be read as a continuation of his painting in many respects, but at the same time they are an independent facet of his oeuvre, since his stylistic characteristics (such as the representation of oversized volumes and the corporeality of the figures) are further enhanced by the concept of mass and three-dimensionality.

The small bronze Girl with a Bow is the epitome of plasticity, sensuality and softness. Her magnificent curves and the compact volume of the seated figure, with its legs bent one on top of the other, are further emphasised by the homogeneity of the brown glaze. The subtle eroticism of the naked girl is not so much due to her exposed nudity as to the innocent gentleness and dreamy self-possession of the figure as she gazes straight ahead.