César Baldaccini

Poing

1980

Napoléon. (Epruve d’artiste EA 1/2) Bocquel fondeur. Acquired directly from the artist. Signed by the artist. César Baldaccini (1921 – 1998) is one of the great sculptors of the twentieth century. As a young man he took a stand for art...

Napoléon. (Epruve d’artiste EA 1/2) Bocquel fondeur. Acquired directly from the artist. Signed by the artist. César Baldaccini (1921 – 1998) is one of the great sculptors of the twentieth century. As a young man he took a stand for art that was firmly anchored in reality, as a counterweight to the lyrical, abstract painting of the time. He has transformed rusty bolts, screws, scrap metal and steel wire into biomorphic sculptures depicting everything from chickens on roller skates to self-portraits of the artist. In his magical hands, metal from the junk-heap, old car parts, discarded cans and plexiglass have been compacted into delightful cubistic works of art that César himself has called “compressions”. As a kind of antithesis to these, he experimented by expanding plastics, glass, aluminium and bronze into voluptuously inflated forms known as “expansions”. Among César’s casts of sculpted breasts, female torsos and clenched fists, it is the thumb that, above all else, has emerged as the artist’s hallmark – his own, greatly enlarged thumb in bronze. Exhibited for the first time at the Galerie Claude Bernard in Paris in 1965, today you can see it – in bronze or marble – in museums and public places all over the world. His largest bronze thumb, measuring fully 12 metres in height, stands in La Défense in Paris. In similar fashion, the artist’s signature is always accompanied by his thumb print. Born in Marseilles in 1921, by the age of 12 César had already left school to work in his father’s wine merchants business. In 1935, however, he enrolled at the École des Beaux Arts in Marseilles. He continued his art studies in 1943 at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, sharing a house for some time with Alberto Giacometti. In 1960 he was invited to join the group of artists known as “les Nouveaux Réalistes”, where he worked together with Arman, Pierre Restany, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and others. César’s genius lies in his ability to coax artistic forms from whatever materials may be at hand. “When I was a child,” he recalled, “I used to think that a sculptor was a man who chipped away at stone with a hammer and chisel. It was only later that I understood you can make sculptures from any material you choose.” In the early 1940s César discovered the opportunities that scrap metal opened up, and his first solo exhibition, “Animaux en ferraille” (or “Scrap metal animals”), was held at the Galerie Lucien Durand...

Publisher GKM. Edition of 100 ex. Free shipment worldwide. Foundry Bocquel. Arman explores reality. He strives to transform and sublimate artefacts into works of art. Everyday obje...

Publisher GKM. Free shipment worldwide. Foundry Bocquel. Edition of 100 ex. Arman wrote, “The bow on the strings releases an explosion of sounds,” in the book Trio à cordes publishe...

“Nero’s Banquet” from the series ”The day after” Bocquel fondeur. Edition of 8 ex. Signed/Numbered by the artist. Free shipment worldwide. Acquired directly from the artist. Arman w...

Original sculpture 1/8 ex. Signed and numbered by the artist and stamped Bocquel fondeur. Acquired directly from the artist. Free shipment worldwide. Arman wrote, “The bow on the ...

Barn Owl, Limited edition Cast Bronze by Paul Harvey This is an edition of 12 with only 3 editions remaining Cast by the Pangolin foundry, one of the best foundries in Europe, they ...

Kestrel, Limited edition Cast Bronze by Paul Harvey This is an edition of 12 Cast by the Pangolin foundry, one of the best foundries in Europe, they are meticulous in every detail ...

This contemporary bronze sculpture of rhinoceros head faithfully reproduces – in almost real size - one of the largest mammals in the world. Proud and mighty, this rhino trophy head ...

Broken limbs and the abstraction of the bodies are meant to suggest that the works have been subjected to the vicissitudes of time, decay by the elements and the damages caused by un...

Broken limbs and the abstraction of the bodies are meant to suggest that the works have been subjected to the vicissitudes of time, decay by the elements and the damages caused by un...

"Aquatic Dance" is a larger version of Pietrina Checcacci's signature bronze legs. Pietrina Checcacci was born in Taranto, Italy. Currently, she lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ...