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Frieze Masters: Émigré: Stand E11, Regent's Park, London

Current exhibition
15 - 19 October 2025
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Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Julio González, Woman Known as 'The Three Pleats', 1931/1985

Julio González 1876-1942

Woman Known as 'The Three Pleats', 1931/1985
Bronze
49 6/8 x 10 7/8 x 6 1/4 in
125.3 x 27.7 x 16 cm
Edition of 2 plus 4 casts marked 0, 00, EA & HC
Inscribed J. Gonzalez, numbered 0 with the foundry mark E. Godard Fond
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Originally conceived in iron in the early 1930s, Woman Known as 'The Three Pleats' exemplifies González’s vision of sculpture as ‘drawing in space’. During this period of artistic development, his...
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Originally conceived in iron in the early 1930s, Woman Known as 'The Three Pleats' exemplifies González’s vision of sculpture as ‘drawing in space’. During this period of artistic development, his sculptures oscillated between two-dimensionality and sculptural depth. González had first experimented with depth in relief sculptures, creating works in which: ‘[the] viewer often has difficulty in defining its limits optically. It slips and vacillates; how much depth it has, and whether it inclines towards or away from us, is ambiguous’ (Penelope Curtis, ‘Julio González: Fact and Fiction’, in Julio González. Sculptures & Drawings (exhibition catalogue), The South Bank Centre, London, 1990, p.13). It was this optical playfulness that paved the way for more complex compositions. In its illusory arrangement of flat planes, Woman Known as 'The Three Pleats' is an investigation into the liminal. Its smooth folds and sheets of bronze disrupt perception and challenge traditional notions surrounding sculpture.

González’s
works are on public display at The MoMA, New York’ Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam; Centre
Pompidou, Paris; IVAM, Valencia; Tate, London.

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Provenance

Estate of the artist

Galerie de France, Paris

Briest, Paris

Private collection

Sotheby’s, London

Exhibitions

Réunion des Musées Nationaux; Museu Picasso, Paris, Paris-Barcelona, 1888-1937, 2002 (iron version)

Literature

H. Curjel, 'Julio González', in Werk, no. 3, March 1970, fig. 2, iron version illustrated p. 206 (as dating from circa 1931-34).

Vicente Aguilera Cerni, Julio, Joan, Roberta González - Itinerario de una Dinastia (Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 1973), no. 438, iron version illustrated p. 337.

Josephine Withers, Julio González, Sculpture in Iron (New York: New York University Press, 1978), no. 52, iron version listed p. 161.

Barbara Volkmann, Julio González:1876-1942 Plastiken, Zeichnungen, Kunstgewerbe (Berlin: Akademie der Künste, 1983), iron version illustrated p. 152.

Anon, Selezione: Sculture e Disegni (Lugano: Galleria Pieter Coray, 1984), no. 9, another cast illustrated n.p.

J. Merkert, Julio González. Catalogue Raisonné des Sculptures (Milan: Electa,

1987), no. 130, iron version illustrated and the present cast listed p. 121.

Anon, Paris, Barcelona, 1888-1937, Exh. Cat. (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux: Museu Picasso, 2002), p. 548, iron version.

M. García Maruri, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao: Guía (Museum of Fine Arts: Bilbao, 2011), no. 112, iron version illustrated p. 160.

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