MANOLO VALDES Né à Valence (Espagne),...

CLIO AZUL 2020 Bronze and stainless steel painted in "Azul" H. 78 cm, W. 125 cm, D. 72 cm Numbered 1/8 The spectacular headdress that crowns this sculpted head identifies Clio, one of Manolo Valdès' favorite muses. The artist created several variations, some of them monumental, of this portrait of a woman. A golden version, of the same dimensions as the Clio Azul of 2020, shines on the shores of Lake Geneva, in the hotel La Réserve in Geneva (fig. 1). Clio, muse of history, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, embodies a material and immaterial History of Art that the artist has reappropriated. Her color "Azul" is a singular azure blue created by Manolo Valdés like Yves Klein's IKB or Pierre Soulages' Outrenoir. Her headdress exalts the mystery of feminine beauty, whose oval facial features are inspired by the work of Constantin Brancusi.