Major 20th century artist, César is currently exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris through March 26, 2018. This retrospective honors the sculptor’s work, his welded iron pieces composed of found objects, his compressions of human waste, and his expansions whose shapes and volumes he controlled.
The story of César is also one of an imprint, clearly on art history and his contemporaries, but also for realising sculptures whose subject is his own thumb. This human imprint would be developed in different sizes (up to six meters) and made in different materials. It would even become one of the hallmarks of his identity and how he would sign several of his graphic works on paper.
The exhibition César – Portraits exhibited by Galeries Joël Knafo Art is supporting this tribute by offering an incursion into the artist’s intimacy through a selection of original works and photographs by Philipp Hugues Bonan.
The photographs taken between 1988 to 1992, many unpublished, reveal César’s stature and humanity. The keen eye, the pensive air, or in the company of artists like Arman, the photographer captured the daily life of a clearly charismatic artist whose sensitivity was expressed with a powerful hand. The exhibition also lets one discover the artist’s original works, like self-portraits sculpted and on paper. The selection clearly highlights the artist’s mastery and desire to exercise his art in any medium: original drawings in India ink, expansions, etchings, stencils, and even the famous compression made to be a cinematographic award.
Philipp Hugues Bonan, César – Portraits
From February 22 through March 10, 2018
Galeries Joël Knafo Art
21 & 24 rue Véron
75018 Paris
France
