JEWELLERY, DECORATIVE & FINE ARTS AUCTION Tuesday, 13 June 2023 - 10:00 AM start

Pedro Friedeberg (Italian/Mexican 1936-),

Lot Details

'Round Snake in a Square Garden', wood and gilded sculpture, (cracks, chips and old repairs commensurate with age). With original correspondence between the purchaser and the artist, reference book and original exhibition booklet. 500 x 900mm. Provenance: Purchased by our vendor's late husband in 1973. Pedro Friedeberg is a Mexican artist and designer known for his surrealist work filled with lines colours and ancient and religious symbols. His best-known piece is the 'Hand-Chair' a sculpture/chair designed for people to sit on the palm, using the fingers as back and arm rests. Friedeberg began studying as an architect but did not complete his studies as he began to draw designs against the conventional forms of the 1950s and even completely implausible ones such as houses with artichoke roofs. However, his work caught the attention of artist Mathias Goeritz who encouraged him to continue as an artist. Friedeberg became part of a group of surrealist artists in Mexico which included Leonora Carrington and Alice Rahon. They were irreverent and rejected the social and political art which was dominant at the time. Friedeberg has had a lifelong reputation as an eccentric, and states that 'art is dead because nothing new is being produced'.