What Do You See? The Collection of Sidney Rothberg, Part I

We wish to thank the Comité Hiquily for confirming the authenticity of the present work. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany the lot.In addition to his contributions as a furniture designer whose tables, table bases, guéridons, lamps, armchairs, canapés, and consoles have been described as biomorphic and surrealist, Philippe Hiquily was a well-recognized sculptor whose works from the mid-20th century underscore his consistent and prevailing interest in, and admiration for, the female form.Hiquily found inspiration in both early Cycladic figurines and in the traditional centuries-old so-called ‘Sphyrelaton’ technique. As a part of the Aegean culture, Cycladic (circa 3200-2300 BCE) female figurines are characterized by having a stylized, flat profile with ill-defined heads. A number have crossed arms, broad shoulders, and elongated necks and are portrayed nude. Early Greek bronzes were created via the “Sphyrelaton,” or “hammer-driven” technique in which hammered metal sheets, separately fabricated, were attached with rivets or nails, over a core. Both the Cycladic and Sphyrelaton influences are visible in the present example.\A unique bronze cast, Femme Couchée was created in 1958 when the artist was thirty-three. Just one year later he won the Critics Prize at the Paris Biennial. Upon an initial examination of this work by the casual viewer, the subject matter–a reclining woman–may or may not be readily apparent. It is only upon closer inspection that the viewer is able to “read” the exaggerated female form. Her small head, elongated neck, and narrow, spindly legs (a stylistic feature that very frequently appears in both Hiquily’s sculptural as well as his two-dimensional works depicting women) center a proportionally rotund, nearly ovoid form torso covered in part by voluminous arms which transition to points. Further, by design, the figure is rigidly lying flat on her left side in such a non-traditional pose so as to be fixed in space, motionless, as opposed to being in a naturally leaning, recumbent position. Hiquily’s presentation challenges conceptions of form and subject matter–an intended consequence, per the artist, who once proffered: “If art does not provoke, I do not see where art is.” The figure’s stiffened posture would almost make her more reasonably akin to being depicted vertically, rather than on her side, though the thin, tapering cylindrical “legs” that end in sharp points could not, unless specifically rooted to a base, support the mass of the figure.While Hiquily befriended such notable French masters as Duchamp, Bataille, and Tinguely, the present bronze may, to some viewers, call to mind works of a number of the better known Modern British sculptors, including Lynn Chadwick, Kenneth Armitage, Elisabeth Frink, and Robert Bowman. Hiquily bronzes created during this period which bear similarities to Femme Couchée include Le Copulateur, L’Assiette (le Noyé), Lola II, Le Ravioli, L’Horloge, Two Marionettes, L’Écuyer, La Bubba and the nearly identical Liz, also from 1958, though the latter figure is suspended atop of a base, which culminates into a thin rod.