ANGEL ZARRAGA (Mexican, 1886-1946). Basket of Plenty, 1922. Oil on canvas. 32 x 25 inches (81.3 x 63.5 cm). Signed and d...

Description

ANGEL ZARRAGA (Mexican, 1886-1946)
Basket of Plenty, 1922
Oil on canvas
32 x 25 inches (81.3 x 63.5 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: Angel Zarraga, Paris 1922

PROVENANCE:
Robert Ratner, New York;
Felix Fenelon, France.

EXHIBITED:
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris.

The model for the woman in this painting is most likely Angel Zarraga's first wife, Russian sportswoman Jeanette Ivanoff, whom he married in 1919. Ivanoff was a professional footballer and served as captain of the women's team during its first-place title year in 1922. She served as a model for her husband throughout his career, whether he was interpreting her face and figure in a cubist vocabulary or depicting her during his later and more romantic neoclassical phase. During this period, his work is somewhat uniform in composition and color: it is characterized by a warm, ruddy palette and very sculptural, solid forms. While Zarraga shows Jeanette Ivanoff clothed in the present work, he focuses on her muscular body, selectively revealing her sturdy upper back and muscular right arm. Her skin glows with a marvelous radiance against the carefully chosen soft red hues of the dress, hat, and basket of fruit. Angel Zarraga was a close associate of Diego Rivera, both during their student years at the National School of Fine Arts in Mexico City, and later in Paris.



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