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Lot Essay
Françoise Guiter will include this work in the upcoming Richier Catalogue Raisonné in preparation and we are grateful for her assistance.
'My nature does not allow me calmness: one is as one is, and age does not make me milder or more serene, not that I am fighting, but it is in me, with me. More and more I am certain that only humanness matters' (Germaine Richier in Fragments de lettres au Sculpteur Banninger 1950-56 in Galerie Creuzevault (ed.), Germaine Richier Paris, 1996, n.p.).
L'Ogre, Germaine Richier's wonderfully mysterious sculpture of a standing figure, belongs to one of the most celebrated periods of her oeuvre. With its rich heritage of expressionist and surrealist sculpture, the dramatic figure of a man, his body rich with the texture of sculptural impasto, shows the very essence of its creation as an object of powerful and enigmatic beauty. His magnificently solid body is contrasted by his attenuated limbs which results in a deliberately unsettling posture. When asked about her preference for such slight foundations, Richier responded: 'I like thin legs supporting heavy masses. But most sculptors do the opposite, they put a thin body on heavy legs. Yes, they made thick legs when sculpture had a respect for the canon. This I do not care to maintain' (Germaine Richier, quoted in P. Guth and N. Chapman, 'Encounter With Germaine Richier', Yale French Studies: Contemporary Art, No. 19/20, 1957, p. 82).One of Richier's iconic standing figures, L'Ogre is also included in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome.
The model for L'Ogre was Richier's favourite life-model, Nardone, who also modeled extensively for Rodin. The imposing figure of her elderly Italian muse -- portly, gruff and standing head and shoulders above Richier -- provided just the kind of form she was interested in exploring. Not for her were the figures of physical perfection required by the previous generation of sculptors. Having lived through the horrors of the Second World War, it was the broken figures of humanity that interested her most. Caught in a state of almost suspended motion, the figure of L'Ogre looks as though he wants to move, but cannot decide where. Referring to the concept of movement in sculptures, Richier says: 'I am not looking to reproduce a particular movement. I am rather looking to make one think of that movement. My statues must give the impression of being immobile whilst, at the same time, seem like they are going to move around'(Germaine Richier quoted in Germaine Richier, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek 1988, p. 29).
Richier begins the sculptural process by painting 'construction' lines of the contours of the body directly onto the surface of the clay. Then, with her fingers, she manoeuvers the molded material slowly into the form that she wants, with direct pressure and force to manipulate each contour until she achieved the desired effect. The bronze still bears the intricate details of its construction with the surface of L'Ogre reading like a roadmap, taking us on an intoxicating journey through its creation. L'Ogre, is a Cyclops; its face nothing more than a seemingly empty cavity devoid of recognisable human features. Yet it is precisely this disquieting quality that, paradoxically, gives additional life to the sculpture. The small, perfectly formed circle in the centre of the head, probably formed by the wooden handle of a paintbrush, gives some human dimension to what would otherwise be a haunting, formless face.
In the years after the Second World War, Germaine Richier's sculptural forms took an unusual form, She abandoned her training in realist sculpture that she had received from Rodin's assistant, Emile-Antoine Bourdelle and began to create powerful works that combined the formal language of expressionism with the mysterious fantasies of Surrealism. The human body was both the source of her inspiration and the point of departure for her new sculptural forms. Her startlingly original depictions of human and human-like forms helped to establish her work as among the most powerfully expressive art being created in Europe at that time. Despite the ravages of circumstance, Richier's upright figures maintain a sense of human dignity or even nobility. Richier attempts to express the innate humanness underlying her figures and despite being naked and vulnerable, L'Ogre is still a human being. Despite his human imperfections, this wonderfully expressive figure remains all the more dignified for that. SJ
'My nature does not allow me calmness: one is as one is, and age does not make me milder or more serene, not that I am fighting, but it is in me, with me. More and more I am certain that only humanness matters' (Germaine Richier in Fragments de lettres au Sculpteur Banninger 1950-56 in Galerie Creuzevault (ed.), Germaine Richier Paris, 1996, n.p.).
L'Ogre, Germaine Richier's wonderfully mysterious sculpture of a standing figure, belongs to one of the most celebrated periods of her oeuvre. With its rich heritage of expressionist and surrealist sculpture, the dramatic figure of a man, his body rich with the texture of sculptural impasto, shows the very essence of its creation as an object of powerful and enigmatic beauty. His magnificently solid body is contrasted by his attenuated limbs which results in a deliberately unsettling posture. When asked about her preference for such slight foundations, Richier responded: 'I like thin legs supporting heavy masses. But most sculptors do the opposite, they put a thin body on heavy legs. Yes, they made thick legs when sculpture had a respect for the canon. This I do not care to maintain' (Germaine Richier, quoted in P. Guth and N. Chapman, 'Encounter With Germaine Richier', Yale French Studies: Contemporary Art, No. 19/20, 1957, p. 82).One of Richier's iconic standing figures, L'Ogre is also included in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome.
The model for L'Ogre was Richier's favourite life-model, Nardone, who also modeled extensively for Rodin. The imposing figure of her elderly Italian muse -- portly, gruff and standing head and shoulders above Richier -- provided just the kind of form she was interested in exploring. Not for her were the figures of physical perfection required by the previous generation of sculptors. Having lived through the horrors of the Second World War, it was the broken figures of humanity that interested her most. Caught in a state of almost suspended motion, the figure of L'Ogre looks as though he wants to move, but cannot decide where. Referring to the concept of movement in sculptures, Richier says: 'I am not looking to reproduce a particular movement. I am rather looking to make one think of that movement. My statues must give the impression of being immobile whilst, at the same time, seem like they are going to move around'(Germaine Richier quoted in Germaine Richier, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek 1988, p. 29).
Richier begins the sculptural process by painting 'construction' lines of the contours of the body directly onto the surface of the clay. Then, with her fingers, she manoeuvers the molded material slowly into the form that she wants, with direct pressure and force to manipulate each contour until she achieved the desired effect. The bronze still bears the intricate details of its construction with the surface of L'Ogre reading like a roadmap, taking us on an intoxicating journey through its creation. L'Ogre, is a Cyclops; its face nothing more than a seemingly empty cavity devoid of recognisable human features. Yet it is precisely this disquieting quality that, paradoxically, gives additional life to the sculpture. The small, perfectly formed circle in the centre of the head, probably formed by the wooden handle of a paintbrush, gives some human dimension to what would otherwise be a haunting, formless face.
In the years after the Second World War, Germaine Richier's sculptural forms took an unusual form, She abandoned her training in realist sculpture that she had received from Rodin's assistant, Emile-Antoine Bourdelle and began to create powerful works that combined the formal language of expressionism with the mysterious fantasies of Surrealism. The human body was both the source of her inspiration and the point of departure for her new sculptural forms. Her startlingly original depictions of human and human-like forms helped to establish her work as among the most powerfully expressive art being created in Europe at that time. Despite the ravages of circumstance, Richier's upright figures maintain a sense of human dignity or even nobility. Richier attempts to express the innate humanness underlying her figures and despite being naked and vulnerable, L'Ogre is still a human being. Despite his human imperfections, this wonderfully expressive figure remains all the more dignified for that. SJ