Fernando Botero, Original drawing of a woman, 1997

Fernando Botero

Original drawing of a woman, 1997

Ink on paper drawing on paper held on first front end page of "Botero" - hardback monograph with dust jacket

The unique, original drawing is hand signed, inscribed and dated by Fernando Botero underneath

12 1/2 × 10 1/2 × 1 1/4 inches

Unframed

This is an original, unique drawing of a quintessentially Botero-esque female, done by Fernando Botero on the front end page with an inscription that says, "To Pat and Marg Botero 97". The drawing is on a completely blank white page, so it can easily be removed from the book and framed separately as a drawing,; or it can be held within the book and framed in a shadow box; or displayed on a mantlepiece, bookshelf or coffee table - the possibilities are numerous. Makes a unique and memorable gift.

About the book:
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rizzoli; First Edition (November 15, 1997)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 221 pages with color illustrations

Publisher's blurb:
The drawings and paintings illustrated in this newly revised and beautifully designed volume provide a wonderful chronicle of Fernando Botero's creative life from 1982 to the present. Culled from extensive conversations, the accompanying text brings to the reader the voice of an artist who regards painting as a "physical necessity" declaring that "when I think of reality, I think of a painted reality." Many of these images of generals and prostitutes, lovers and solitary men, horses and cows, bishops and ladies gathered in gardens-have never been published before. Impassive and seemingly mute, Botero's people nevertheless inhabit their world with a fullness and sensuousness that is unforgettable and powerful.

The matches and groups of works on these pages have been made by the artist himself, who has attended to the book with the same affection brought to each painting and drawing. In the process of creating this volume he has joined forces with Paola Gribaudo, the Turin-based designer who has collaborated with him for thirteen years. In oil or pastel on canvas, each stroke of the brush or movement of the hand is made with the knowledge that it will create another small but important part of the rich and enigmatic world for which he is so well known. Rounding out the volume are a list of illustrated works, list of exhibitions, and selected bibliography.

As the reader turns these pages, a portrait of the artist as inventor of his own life emerges that is every bit as compelling as the pictures he has brought into being. How was this young Colombian transformed into an international artist who lives and works in new York, Paris, Monte Carlo, and Tuscany? We learn of the "journey within the journey." Of Botero drawing "like a painter, creating the volumes from the inside out." His studies of Caravaggio, Ingres, Van Eyck, and Goya inform his view that it is finally the familiar, local world that is universal and memorable.

About Fernando Botero:
Perhaps the most famous contemporary Latin American artist, Fernando Botero (b. 1932-2023). After a stint at a matador school, Botero decided art was his true calling and in 1948, aged 16, he had his first exhibition. In the early 1950s Botero travelled through Europe, studying art at Madrid's Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, followed by a spell in Paris spent absorbing the works of the Old Masters at the Louvre. He continued to Florence, where he studied the frescoes of the Italian Renaissance, discovering techniques from a bygone era.

Botero was best known for his distinctive style of smooth inflated shapes with unexpected shifts in scale which reflects the artist's constant search to give volume presence and reality. His oeuvre ranges in subject matter, including daily life in Colombia, art historical references like the Mona Lisa, and abuses of power- all unified his exaggeratedly rotund figures.

He has created monumental sculptures for public spaces in many major cities, including New York (Park Avenue), Paris (Champs-Élysées), Rome and Monte Carlo. His works are found in many important private and public collections, such as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.); Ho-am Museum (Seoul); Israel Museum (Jerusalem); Kunsthalle Nuremberg (Nuremberg); Museo d'Arte Moderna del Vaticano (Rome); Museum Moderne Kunst (Vienna); Neue Pinakothek (Munich); Staatgalerie Moderne Kunst (Munich); Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Tel Aviv); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York); The Museum of Modern Art (New York); and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York).
Courtesy of Opera Gallery