Lot 74

Private collection, Melbourne
Thence by descent

McKenzie, J., Biography Noel Counihan, Kangaroo Press, 1986, p.30

RELATED WORK:
Noel Counihan, Chantal from the Rue Quincampoix 1975, terracotta, 70 x 33 x 21cm, private collection

In 1969 Noel Counihan worked in an artist's complex in Paris. Not far from where he was living there were streets where sex workers were a common sight. Counihan's view of sex workers he saw in Paris is described by Janet McKenzie in her biography of Noel Counihan as a "sympathetic" one, expressing a "deep respect for women and a compassion for the situations in which they are often placed in a male dominated society". This bronze sculpture is a cast from a 1975 terracotta sculpture 'Chantal from the Rue Quincampoix'. Counihan wrote that Chantal was "a working woman and the world had to take her as such". In the work, Noel depicted Chantal as cooing in a Siren-like call for customers.

© Noel Counihan/Copyright Agency, 2026