Igor Mitoraj (1944–2014), "perseus"

Bronze piece with a nuanced ochre patina,
signed MITORAJ on the left hip,
numbered on the back E230 / 1000 HC.
Sold with its certificate and original box (shown in the slideshow).
Height : 38 cm.
Travertine base, height: 10 cm.
Total height: 48 cm.
(piece in very good original condition / a small chip on the base)

Once again, we are pleased to present a bronze, "Perseus," presumably created in 1988 by Igor Mitoraj, whose work we particularly appreciate—unique and moving, a true synthesis of our origins, our past and history, our present, our personal lives and our future.
It is very rare, even exceptional, to have the certificate of authenticity issued by the publisher, Artcurial, along with the original referenced packaging (a box with label) in which the sculpture was presented.
This is not just a minor detail, but really reflects the owner's care in wanting to preserve the work in its entirety. 

(The following article is partly inspired by the text published in "Igor Mitoraj, Sculpture", ART-OBJET, Paris, 1988)

Igor Mitoraj lives "under the shock of sensations…".
He calls upon our memory, the vast memory of Western history, that collective and all-encompassing memory which, beyond generations, events… and the exhumation of works that help reinforce it, shapes our history.
As an amateur and medium of this vast memory, the artist obeys his nostalgia.
He becomes its archaeologist and dowser.
From the very beginning, his work shows great aesthetic and formal maturity.
It reflects a complex melancholy for the artistic remnants of Antiquity and the Greek world.
He makes his own the invention of an idealized antiquity, without any intention of imitation. 
The heart appears on the chests of its heroes, in small square openings…
It’s a reminder of memories, emotions, and feelings, sometimes distant, but so intense and so present within us that it becomes flesh of our flesh.
In marble or bronze, this heart beats. It is very much alive.
It holds our dreams, the lived experiences of our happy or thwarted destinies, our unconfessed secrets.
A true memory, it influences the course of our lives.
It is the soul of these seemingly inert fragments of bodies.