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Email to FriendSigned Rene Magritte, Sculpture, Les Menottes de Cuivre (The Copper Handcuffs), 1931  |
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| Artist: | Magritte, Rene (1898 - 1967) |
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| Title: | Les Menottes de Cuivre (The Copper Handcuffs), 1931 |
| Medium: | Patinated bronze sculpture created after the original painted plaster cast by René Magritte (Lessines, 1898 - Brussels, 1967) in 1931 |
| Image Size: | HEIGHT: 18 15/16 in (48 cm) |
| Signed: | Stamp signed 'Magritte' along the front of the black base; also stamp signed by the Magritte Foundation and Fonderie Bocquel, France on the right side and back of the base. |
| Edition: | Numbered from the edition of 250 on the back of the base; published with the permission of the Magritte Foundation and cast at Fonderie Bocquel. |
| Condition: | his work is in excellent condition. |
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Super Price
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Item# 3763
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Derived from the famed statue Venus de Milo, Magritte reappropriates this monumental work in his own surrealist style, giving new life to one of the most beautiful works of sculpture from Antiquity. |
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| Historical Description: | |
| Discovered in April 1820 by a Greek farmer on the island of Melos, Venus de
Milo is considered one of the most beautiful works of sculpture from Antiquity,
combining classical heritage with modernism (Catalogue raisonne, vol. II, p.
427, N. 678). According to the editors of the complete Magritte catalogue raisonne
David Sylvester and Sarah Whitfield, "Magritte painted the Venus de Milo
four consecutive times in an attempt to give her a new "unexpected life"…that
of 1936 was destined to be exhibited at Charles Ratton's in the same year. (André)
Breton, being closely linked to the organization of this exhibition, was asked
to find a title in a letter in which Magritte discusses the Venus: This object reminds us of the masks on which I painted the sky, or a forest. Here, the head is white, the body is flesh-coloured, the drapery is blue and the pedestal and sectioned limbs are black. In my opinion, this restores a new "unexpected life" to the Venus. Breton answered with the following: I resign myself to proposing a purely poetic title: the "Copper Handcuffs"
which I believe has the advantage of incorporating a new colour in the object
yet without introducing the arbitrary as copper is the metal corresponding to
Venus.
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| Style: | Surrealism |
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Biography of Rene Magritte
René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist whose witty and thought-provoking images challenged observers’ preconditioned perceptions of reality. Magritte's work frequently displays a juxtaposition of ordinary objects in an unusual context, giving new meanings to familiar things.
Magritte grew up in a simple and somewhat tragic household. His father was a modest tailor. His mother, who was mentally unsound, committed suicide in the year 1912. Magritte started drawing at a young age, and his first paintings, produced c. 1915, were Impressionistic in style.
Magritte first worked as a draughtsman in a wallpaper factory and, in the year 1922, fell in love with and married Georgette Berger. In 1926, Magritte signed a contract with Galerie La Centaure in Brussels, making it possible for him to paint full-time. During this time, inspired by his friend André Breton, he became involved with the Surrealist group.
During the German occupation of Belgium in World War II, he stayed in Brussels. He continued to paint, gaining increased recognition. His work was exhibited in the United States in New York multiple times, including 2 retrospective exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1967, Magritte died of pancreatic cancer, his imagery having greatly influenced pop, minimalist, and conceptual art.
