Lot 191: JESÚS FRUCTUOSO CONTRERAS

MEXICAN 1866-1902 L'VEIL (AWAKENING) signed: J. CONTRERAS PARIS. white marble 74.5cm., 29¼in.

This elegant nude was carved by the Mexican artist Jesús Fructuoso Contreras, who was active in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. The graceful figure draws attention to her nudity by gently clasping one breast and stretching forwards. The thin cloth draped around her arm is carved with fine delicacy. There is another version of the present marble in the Museo Andrés Blaisten in Mexico City. Contreras trained at Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico, before moving to Paris, where he earned a medal in the 1889 Exposition Universelle. On returning to Mexico City, he was commissioned to complete a number of public monuments. Noteworthy among these is the series of twenty statues of distinguished figures from Mexican history, placed along the Paseo de la Reforma. Despite the high demands of his monumental projects, he combined these with small bronzes and decorative objects suited to reproduction; in doing so, he successfully mastered the modern art of sculptor-entrepreneur. RELATED LITERATURE E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, Gründ, 1999, vol. iii, p. 846