César BALDACCINI (Marseille 1921 - Paris 1998)

César BALDACCINI (Marseille 1921 - Paris 1998)
"Poule patte en l'air"
French School
Signed on the base
Circa 1980
Bronze with brown gilded patina
Cachet Fondeur Bocquel
53 x 45 x 27 cm / 20.8 x 17.7 x 10.6 in
Referenced in the Archives of Denyse Durand-Ruel under n° 2773
This work will be included in the upcoming volume of the Catalogue Raisonné of the artist, currently prepared by
Denyse Durand-Ruel.
Exhibitions :
Brussels
Edinburgh
Lugano
Marseille
London
Paris
Sao Paulo
Literature:
BOON GALLERY
KUSTLAAN 197, B-8300 KNOKKE, BELGIUM
TEL: +32 (0)475 45 49 63 / TEL: +32 (0)476 31 53 76
WWW.BOONGALLERY.COM – [email protected]
Member of the Belgian Chamber of Art Experts
Member of the Royal Belgian Chamber of Art & Antique Dealers
BÉNÉZIT, E., "Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les
temps et de tous les pays par un groupe d'écrivains spécialistes français et étrangers", nouv.éd.rev. et augm., sl,
Librairie Gründ, Paris, 1999.
NOUVEL, J., "César Anthologie", Fondation Cartier, Editions Xavier Barral, 2008.
RESTANY, P., "Le Nouveau Réalisme", Union générale d’éditions, collection 10/18, Paris, 1978.
Artist Biography :
César Baldaccini was a French sculptor, born in 1921 of Italian parents in the working-class neighbourhood of la
Belle-de-Mai in Marseilles, better known as "César". After studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Marseille from
1935 until 1939, he went on to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1943 until 1948. He began making
sculptures by welding together pieces of scrap metal in 1952 and first made his reputation with solid welded
sculptures of insects, various kinds of animals, nudes, etc. His first one-man exhibition was at the Galerie Lucien
Durand in Paris in 1954.
His early work used soldered and welded metal as well as junk materials, and by 1960 César was considered one
of France's leading sculptors. In that year, on a visit to a scrap merchant in search of metal, he saw a hydraulic
crushing machine in operation, and decided to experiment with it in his sculpture. He astonished his followers by
showing three crushed cars at a Paris exhibition. It was for these 'Compressions' that César became renowned.
César selected particular cars for crushing, mixing elements from differently coloured vehicles. In this way he could
control the surface pattern and colour scheme of the piece.
Later the same year he joined the Nouveaux Réalistes (New Realists) - Arman, Klein, Raysse, Tinguely, Pierre
Restany and others who found their inspiration in urban life.
In 1965, he started to work with plastics, first with plastic moulds of human imprints, then from 1966 by pouring
expanded polyurethane, which was allowed to expand and solidify. He gave up making welded-metal sculpture in
1966 and organised a series of Happenings from 1967-1970, in which he produced expansions in the presence of
an audience. His later works also included sculptures made out of molten crystal.
In 1995, he was asked to paint a Mclaren F1 GTR that participated in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car
Chassis GTR5 is still in the livery created by Cesar, and represents the only 'Art Car" based on the iconic Mclaren.
He is the creator of the César du cinéma trophy, which is awarded to the best in French cinema. He was made
Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1978 and promoted Officier in 1993.
One can see examples of his work at a number of places such as le Centre national d'art et de culture GeorgesPompidou (Bas relief, Tortue, le Diable), at the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, on the esplanade de La
Défense (Le Pouce).
BOON GALLERY
KUSTLAAN 197, B-8300 KNOKKE, BELGIUM
TEL: +32 (0)475 45 49 63 / TEL: +32 (0)476 31 53 76
WWW.BOONGALLERY.COM – [email protected]
Member of the Belgian Chamber of Art Experts
Member of the Royal Belgian Chamber of Art & Antique Dealers