Julio González

Reclining Figure with a Large Hand

1936

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Not on display

Artist: Julio González 1876–1942
Medium: Ink and crayon on paper
Dimensions: Support: 194 × 283 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by Mme Roberta Gonzalez-Richard, the artist's niece 1972
Reference: T01609

Catalogue entry

Julio González 1876-1942

T01609 Personnage allongé à la Grande Main (Reclining Figure with a Large Hand) 1936

Inscribed 'J.G. | 1936' b.l.
Pen and crayon on paper, 7 5/8 x 11 1/8 (19.2 x 28.3)
Presented by Roberta González 1972
Lit: Josette Gibert, Julio González Dessins: Projets pour Sculptures: Personnages (Paris 1975), p.23 repr.
Repr: Ronald Alley, The González Gift to the Tate Gallery (London 1974), p.29

This is one of at least four drawings (Gibert, op.cit., pp.23-5) related to the welded iron sculpture 'Reclining Figure' of about 1936 and probably done as preliminary studies. Three of these drawings are dated 1936, but without an exact date, and the fourth is undated. There is also an undated oil painting on the same theme, again with variations.

The head of the reclining figure is to the right and the legs to the left. The vertical element is the raised arm, surmounted by the hand, with its five large fingers.

[All the drawings by Julio González given to the Tate are authenticated on the back by his daughter Roberta González and inscribed with a title and date, or approximate date. The titles are used in the catalogue entries, but the dating has been made more precise wherever possible. (Julio González's drawings are usually dated from about 1934 onwards, but the great majority of the early drawings are undated).]

Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.316, reproduced p.316