Communication with the purpose of culturally promoting artists included in the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Collection, works protected by intellectual property rights. Their total or partial reproduction or processing by any means, or their transmission or cession in any form is forbidden without the authorisation of the holder of the rights to the works.
BAIGNEUSSE (TÊTE BAISÉE)
TECHNICAL DATA
Author: Pablo Gargallo (Maella, Zaragoza, 1881 – Reus, Tarragona, 1934)
Title: Baigneusse (tête baisée)
Year: 1924
Technique: white marble
Size: 69,7 x 37 x 27,5 cm
This piece is a perfect example of the facet of streamlined, modern classicism characterising the artist, along with his characteristic formal inquiries into sheet metal. The sculptor depicts his wife standing nude with her head bowed and piece of fabric held in her hand, clinging to her legs as it falls. Because of its volumetric conception and proportions, as well as its overall arrangement and theme, it is associated with Mediterraneanism, as well as with Baigneuse (tête levée), a version from this same year made immediately after this sculpture, both of them starting from the same model and only differing in the position of the head.
There are at least two terracotta versions of this figure, at least one period replica made of bronze of the same size at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, and several modern copies in bronze, including the copy at the Pablo Gargallo Museum in Zaragoza. This original version in white marble, sourced from the artist’s heirs, was acquired by the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson at the Galería Leandro Navarro stand at the 2020 ARCO fair.