Claudio BRAVO (Valparaiso 1936 - Taroudant 2011)

The Guardian’s Son Sold

Pencil, black and red chalk.
Signed and dated CLAUDIO BRAVO / MCMLXXXIV in red chalk at the lower right.
561 x 471 mm. (22 1/8 x 18 1/2 in.) [sheet]

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Drawn in 1984, this large drawing is a portrait of the son of Claudio Bravo’s housekeeper at his home in Tangiers, who also appears in a number of other works by the artist.

The artist’s close friend Mario Vargas Llosa has written that ‘As Claudio Bravo always paints live models, in his house in Tangier it is not in the least surprising to come across the faces who posed for his christs, martyrs and anchorites, his madonnas and diviners, his bird charmers, dancers and musicians, his characters from mythology…They are in the kitchens, they are the family of the caretaker, the gardeners, the cleaning ladies, the man who looks after the pigeons.’

Provenance:
Marlborough Gallery, New York
Acquired from them in 1985 by Edwin and Lindy Bergman, Chicago
Thence by descent.

Literature:
Paul Bowles and Mario Vargas Llosa, Claudio Bravo: Paintings and Drawings, New York, 1997, illustrated p.142 (incorrectly as oil on canvas).