José DE GUIMARAES (1939) "Chimera with red horn" sculpture in papier mâché and resin, and mixed technique. Signed and dated 87 towards the base above the eyes. On a black lacquered wooden base, signed under the body at the top of the leg and dated 1987. H. 171 x 168 x 25.5 cm José Maria Fernandes Marques was born in Guimaraes, Portugal, from which he took his name. After studying engineering and taking courses in engraving and painting, he travelled around Europe, discovering the pictorial traditions of Paris and Rome. In 1967, he went to Angola as part of a military service commission. His discovery of African art, and its anthropological and symbolic study, had an unconditional influence on his work as an artist. Fascinated by the ritual and animist significance of these objects, José de Guimaraes began collecting African art, and then, as he travelled, pre-Columbian and Asian art. His own works, symbolic forms and multicultural alphabets, are charged with a syncretic power that gives them a magical significance. Provenance: Catherine Clerc-de Goumoëns Collection