Small Pierrot mask

This small and mysterious work, which belongs to the second copper era, is unique for many and almost surprising reasons: after several silver brooches, from ca. 1925 and 1927, and the Little Head with a Phrygian Cap, ca. 1926, is one of the smallest sculptures made by Gargallo in this important period of his creative career (reminding us due to its dimensions of the Small Mask with Tuft, 1907, or the Mask of a Man, 1910-11), but it is also the only one that preserves, or rather, recovers the convex structure of the works from the first copper era, particularities to which we cannot fail to add the clear references to a certain type of African art that had greatly influenced some trends and authors of the first decades of the century.

The melancholic sweetness of the gesture, the total economy and precision of the expressive resources used, the large naked arches that make up the eyebrows and nose, the helpless ear, the exotic delicacy with which the right eye is slanted, the concise mouth are some of the features that define and differentiate a small, large sculpture that is absolutely unforgettable.