Julio González (1876-1942)
Femme se coiffant I – (Woman Combing Her Hair I)

Femme se coiffant I
AM951S
González Julio (1876-1942)
Localisation : Paris, Centre Pompidou - Musée national d'art moderne - Centre de création
industrielle Don de Mme Roberta Gonzalez en 1953
 © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Philippe Migeat      
 Don de Roberta González en 1953

Julio González, Femme à la corbeille, 1934, Fer forgé soudé sur socle en pierre, 172 x 63,5 x 62,5, Musée national d'art moderne Centre Pompidou AM 1979-418
de Mme Roberta González en 1979
numéro d’inventaire : AM 1979-418
© Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Bertrand Prévost/Dist. RMN-GP

These two pieces are illustrative of González’s desire to create linear, open-form sculptures that act as “drawing[s] in space”. The ductility (capacity to be shaped without breaking) of the metal used allowed González to reproduce the human form using solid or hollow frameworks, and meant he could “project into the void using new methods, make use of this void and build with it, as though it were a newly discovered material”.

Femme à la corbeille represents the completion of this study on solidity and volume rendered by lines and empty space. The figure of the woman, depicted in its simplicity by a collection of metal curves and lines, borders on the abstract.