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• Auction House:
  Bonhams Australia
• Sale Name:
  Australian Art | Modern to Contemporary
• Sale Date:
  01 Sep 2020 ~ 6pm (AEST)
• Lot #:
  20
• Lot Description:
  Anthony Dennis Pryor
  (1951-1991)
  Amadore, 1989
  bronze, brass and pink Portuguese marble
  height: 203.0cm (79 15/16in). (overall)
• Provenance:
  Collection of Jutta Pryor; Private collection, Sydney
• Exhibited:
  Realities Gallery, Melbourne, October 1989, cat. 131
• References:
  Jenny Zimmer et al, Anthony Pryor: Sculpture & Drawings 1974-1991, Macmillan Publishers Australia, Melbourne, 1999, pl. 141, p.160 (illus.), p.216
• Notes:
  Melbourne artist, Anthony Pryor had originally trained as an engineer before taking up sculpture in 1971. Initially working with wood and metal after an inspiring trip to Japan, he discovered the beauty of marble late in his short career, marrying it with brass, bronze and steel in his last, and arguably best works. Amadore was among a series of works incorporating marble that were inspired by The Performers, 1989-1990 - a group of seven, three metre tall public sculptures installed in the street and leading into the foyer of 533 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne. 'Amadore and Beware of the Siren, of 1989-90, have clear associations with sketches for the bronze garden court Performers; the figurative nature of these late works being as much about the organic vitality of plant life as of the human figure. (One of the artist's delights was to walk in the rainforest). Marble is given prominence in these sculptures as the principal motif in otherwise metal superstructures raised on curved bronze 'stalks'. The highly polished marble is presented as a sensuous object, a fecund bud, suggesting a symbol of regeneration'.1 In Amadore, Pryor has 'shaped, notched and polished its pink portugese marble 'head' which is mounted on an elegant backward curving bronze column. it is suddenly impossible to read the work as relating to the landscape...Amadore's marble head, sheathed between two long shafts of brass, is calm composed and self-contained, reminiscent of Brancusi's Sleeping Muse (1908) or Sleeping Muse II (1910). it focuses on the human condition, perhaps as a result of the introspection that must have come with Pryor's illness'.2 1. Judith Trimble, 'Stone, and the 'Illustrious Marbles' in Jenny Zimmer et al, Anthony Pryor: Sculpture & Drawings 1974-1991, Macmillan Publishers Australia, Melbourne, 1999, p.173-174 2. ibid, p. 179
• Estimate:
  A$8,000 - 12,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.