Alberto Guzmán (1927–2017) - Sans Titre

Alberto Guzmán (1927–2017) — Untitled, circa 1990

Main information
Artist: Alberto Guzmán (1927–2017)
Title: Untitled
Dating: circa 1990
Technique: ink and wash on delicate silk paper
Dimensions of the work: 37 × 38 cm
Dimensions with frame: 40 × 50 cm
Signature: signed “Guzmán” bottom right
, Mark: red monogram stamp of the artist in the upper right part
Frame: wooden frame, under glass
Provenance: artist's studio – direct donation from Alberto Guzmán to the current owner
Document: provenance certificate dated and signed accompanying the work

Lot description
Original work by Alberto Guzmán (1927–2017), created around 1990 in ink and wash on delicate silk paper.
The composition centers on a large circular form emerging from a dark background. It is traversed by a multitude of graphic signs, punctuation, geometric tracings, and movements of ink.
The blacks and grays dialogue with lighter tones, lightly pinkish and purplish. The transparency of the wash and the fineness of the paper create variations in depth and light.
The central form seems simultaneously to be built, fractured, and dissolved in space.
This composition firmly sits within Guzmán’s plastic research around form, the sphere, emptiness, space, and light, investigations that run through both his works on paper and his sculpture.

The work is signed “Guzmán” bottom right and bears in its upper right part the artist’s red monogram stamp.

It is presented in its wooden frame under glass, revealing the irregular edges of the silk paper.

Exceptional provenance
Direct provenance from Alberto Guzmán’s studio.
This work was personally gifted by Alberto Guzmán to the current owner, Marc Binninger, a photographer-author who worked directly with the artist.
Marc Binninger notably produced a series of photographs of Guzmán’s works for a book documenting his work for publication by the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau.
Since its presentation by Alberto Guzmán, the work has remained in the current owner’s private collection.
This direct provenance, with no intermediary since the artist's workshop, is documented by a dated and signed provenance certificate, illustrated with photographs allowing precise identification of the work, its signature, and the monogram stamp.
The original certificate of provenance will accompany the work at sale.

Alberto Guzmán
Born in Peru in 1927, Alberto Guzmán studied at the National School of Fine Arts in Lima, where he earned a gold medal in 1956.

He settled in France at the end of the 1950s and developed a personal oeuvre dominated by sculpture, while pursuing substantial graphic and pictorial work.

His artistic language explores particularly the relationships between matter and emptiness, shadow and light, mass and space.

His career led him to participate in numerous international events and exhibitions, notably the Paris Biennale and the Venice Biennale.

In 1971, he received the Antoine-Bourdelle Prize.

His sculpted work, but also his paper works, bear witness to a constant search for elemental and universal forms, especially the sphere and its transformations.

In 2012, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau organized a major retrospective devoted to decades of creation.
Alberto Guzmán died in France in 2017.

Condition report
The work is in good general condition, considering the particularly fine and delicate nature of its support.
The paper retains its natural, irregular edges, visible in the framing.
The work is currently protected under glass.
Detailed photographs are an integral part of the description and allow appreciation of the work’s condition, its material, the signature, and the red monogram stamp.

Framing and shipping
The work is sold framed, in its wooden frame measuring 40 × 50 cm.
It will be carefully packaged and protected for shipment, given the fragility of the silk paper and the presence of glass.
The original provenance certificate, dated and signed, will be handed to the buyer with the work.