Caesar (Born Cesare Baldaccini, January 1, 1921 – December 6, 1998), also referred to as Cesar Baldaccini , was a noted French sculptor .
Caesar was at the forefront of the New Realism movement with his radical compressions (compacted automobiles, discarded metal, gold rubbish), expansions (polyurethane foam sculptures), and fantastic representations of animals and insects.
Biography
He Was a French sculptor, born in 1921 of Italian relatives from Tuscany in the working-class neighborhood of Belle-de-Mai in Marseilles . His father was a cooper and bar owner. After studying at the School of Fine Arts, Marseilles (1935-9) he went to the School of Fine Arts in Paris (1943-8). 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 and nudes.
His first one-man exhibition was at the Lucien Durand Gallery , Paris, 1954.
His early work was used as a junk material, and by 1960 Caesar was considered one of France’s leading sculptors. In that year, we visit a scrap merchant in search of metal, he saw a hydraulic crushing machine in operation, and a decision to experiment with it in his sculpture. He has shown his followers by showing three crushed cars at a Paris exhibition. It was for these ‘Compressions’ that Caesar became renowned. Caesar selected cars for crushing, mixing elements of different colored vehicles. In this way he could control the surface pattern and color scheme of the piece.
Later la même year he joined the New Realists (New Realists) – Arman , Klein, Raysse, Tinguely, Pierre Restany and others Their Who found inspiration in urban life.
In 1965, he began to work with plastics, first with plastic molds of human imprints, then from 1966 for expanded polyurethane , which was allowed to expand and solidify. He gave up making welded-metal sculpture in 1966 and organized 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 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 Chassis Car GTR5 is still in the livery created by Caesar, and represents the only ‘Art Car’ based on the iconic Mclaren.
He is the creator of the César of the cinema trophy, which is awarded to the best in French cinema .
He was made Knight of the Legion of Honor on 22 January 1978 [1] and promoted Officer (Officer) in 1993. [1]
He married Rosine and had one daughter Anna.
He died in Paris in December 1998. Stéphanie Busuttil , his companion at the time of his death, on the other hand.
Works on public display
Examples of Caesar’s work can be seen in the permanent collection of the Georges Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture ( Bas Relief , Tortoise , the Devil ) and the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris (Facel Vega). He aussi designed His own grave at the Cemetery of Montparnasse , on the esplanade of La Défense ( The Thumb ) in Marseille on the Hamburg Avenue near the MAC and the Bonneveine Center ( The Thumb Giant ).
One of his most iconic pieces, Canned expansion – Martial Raysse (1970-1972), is at the Museo Cantonale d’Arte in Lugano . [2]
The Flying Frenchman was installed in Hong Kong in the early 1990s. [ quote needed ]
Sources
- Ronald Alley, Catalog of the Tate Gallery’s Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p. 99
- The World , 12 January 2008
References
- ^ Jump up to:a b “Decree of 29 March 1993 promoting and appointing” . JORF . 1993 (86): 6230. April 11, 1993. PREX9310954D . Retrieved April 5, 2009 .
- Jump up^ Caesar Baldaccini: Keeps Expansion – Martial Raysse