Material Terracotta
Dimensions 20 × 19.9 cm
Price €18,000
Status Vetted

About the Work

This relief belongs to the mature phase of Manolo Hugué’s sculptural production, when his language had fully consolidated around a search for essential form, structural balance, and archetypal human presence. Executed as a compact rectangular plaque, the composition presents two intertwined standing figures rendered in high relief, their bodies simplified into interlocking volumes. The scene emphasizes physical contact and rhythmic counterbalance, transforming a figurative subject into a study of mass and tension.

The surface retains clear evidence of direct modelling, with visible tool marks and a deliberately tactile finish that reinforces the material presence of the work. This approach is consistent with Hugué’s practice in clay and plaster, where he favoured immediacy and constructive modelling over polished refinement.

During his mature years, the artist repeatedly explored relief formats in square or rectangular fields across different materials, including clay, plaster, bronze, and stone. These works often revisit recurring themes—pairs of figures, dancers, bacchic subjects, and rustic types—treated not as narrative episodes but as vehicles for formal investigation. The present composition fits this trajectory closely, presenting a subject that connects with his recurring interest in bacchic or dance-like motifs, where bodily dialogue becomes a framework for sculptural order.

The same scene is depicted in a work on paper, executed in gouache, watercolor, and pencil in Caldes de Montbui in 1929.

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Provenance

Private collection, Barcelona.

View artwork at TEFAF Maastricht 2026

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