Victor Salmones (1937-1989) Mexican, Abstract Bronze Sculpture and Marble Base. Depicts a figure resting on one knee before a tall doorframe, their head cocked as if listening. Paper label on top of marble base has artist name, prior price, and title: "Voyeur." Artist signature carved into side of figure, along with "P/P." 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size: 7 x 8 x 8 1/4 in. 

Victor Salmones was born in Mexico City in 1937 to Spanish parents, and he began to work a series of odd jobs when he was a young boy to support his family after his father died. In elementary school he discovered a love and talent for sculpture. He won his first award with children’s modeling clay, and obtained a scholarship to the Universidad de las Americas, where he took as many art courses as possible. In 1956 he went to work for an advertising firm, but continued to pursue his interest in sculpture on the side. In 1962 he had saved enough from working to put himself through the Instituto de Bellas Artes, where he was mentored by the Bauhaus master Otto Hoffman. Hoffman offered him a further apprenticeship after he finished with school, and helped him to open his own sculpture workshop in Cuernavaca in 1966. The following year his bronze statue “Adam” won first prize at the Biennale Exposition of the National Museum of Art, catapulting him into the international spotlight. In 1971 his life-sized bronze “Narcissus” won first place in another national competition, and was permanently installed in the harbor of Acapulco Bay, now a landmark and symbol of the city. One man shows followed every year after that, first in his home country and then around the world. His pieces can now be found in thirty-eight different countries in countless museums, and he is credited with reviving a lost wax method of casting which became extremely popular after he rediscovered it. Most of his sculptures were one-offs, and nearly all of his series were done in batches of no more than ten. His last piece, “Cancer, There Is Hope” was completed by assistants shortly after his tragic death from cancer in 1989, at the age of 52. Today his work is recognized for its balance of depth and vitality, often juxtaposing obtuse and disturbing themes with comic imagery and figures, and both his more realistic and more abstract pieces are highly sought after by collectors across the globe.

Commensurate with age.