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Provenance:

Galerie Moos Ltd., Toronto, ON
Private Collection, Toronto, ON, acquired from the above in 1963

Literature:

Pierre Restany, Sorel Etrog (Munich, London, New York: Prestel Verlag, 2001), repro. 67.

Exhibited:

Sorel Etrog, 19 Mar - 10 Apr 1963, Gallery Moos Limited, Toronto, ON, listed under no. 12.

Note:

No Canadian sculptor understood and created their own version of mid-twentieth century modernism like Sorel Etrog did in the 1960s. The three bronze sculptures of this period offered in this auction embody his achievement, and their enduring appeal attests to their quality and rigour.

Following his earliest mature works, the thoroughly abstract Painted Constructions (1952–1960), Etrog’s work regularly drew inspiration from the visible world and from anthropomorphized figures. Starting in the late 1950s and through the process of abstracting from the human figure, Etrog choreographed the viewer’s gaze.

In Duet (1960-1962) Etrog refined a form he used regularly from 1959 to 1963. Concentrating a standing figure to simple graphic marks of a kernel, knot and filament for its head, torso and legs, Etrog developed a personal syntax. These spare and serene works are unmistakably Etrog’s and in their sophistication they acknowledge and echo the austerity and grace of the bronze sculptures of Alberto Giacometti and Aristide Maillol.

This sculpture was conceived as Etrog’s career was taking off. It represents the essence of Etrog’s sculpture during this definitive moment in his career.

We thank Gregory Humeniuk, art historian, consultant and curator, for this essay.

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