CÉSAR marseillais GALERIE ALEXIS PENTCHEFF

CÉSAR marseillais GALERIE ALEXIS PENTCHEFF

CÉSAR marseillais Opening on the 31st May from 7 pm After the institutional retrospective at Centre Pompidou in Paris led by Bernard Blistène, the Alexis Pentcheff gallery is delighted to announce an exhibition dedicated to the artist in Marseille, his home city. This event pays tribute to one of the greatest sculptors of his time on the 20th anniversary of his death. This event will gather more than fifty original works of art, including some of his finest sculptures and combustions on paper, but also drawings, sketches and historical documents. Therefore, the aim of the show is to offer a whole overview of César s creative process and artistic career. All of the works come from private collections and will be on sale at the gallery, some of them presented for the first time to the public. César is an artist of his time, highly attentive to his social, political and technological environment. His work is also greatly inspired by Picasso, Gonzalez, Duchamp and Giacometti. Hence, there is a genuine ambiguity between classicism and modernity in Cesar s artistic approach which creates constant anachronisms. Pierre Restany, a well-known art critic, highlights precisely this duality between homo faber (man who makes) and homo ludens (man who plays) and thus illustrates this essential aspect of the sculptor s work.

CÉSAR marseillais Not only has César shaken up the art world, he also left an everlasting art legacy to the following generation. While the artist points out mass consumption and massive industrialisation through diverse techniques, the material and the substance exalt. From his zoomorphic and anthropomorphic works using the arc welding technique, to his famous Compressions, Expansions, and his Empreintes Humaines, a dialogue of contradictions is articulated and built from a thought that is relentlessly moving. Throughout his career, the artist has invariably reinvented himself to serve his practice. Imbued with a subtle poetry, his work finds its roots from his radical actions and continue to exert a remarkable influence on the contemporary scene. This exhibition is the result of a very long reflection on César s body of work and a genuine desire to build a retrospective in Marseille. With this exclusive selection of works for sale, the gallery Alexis Pentcheff suggests to rediscover the silent force of his Compression, the audacity of his Expansions, the lyricism of his Fers soudés, the poetry of his paper combustion, the spontaneity of his pencil stroke and the subtlety of his Portraits of Compressions, in the city where everything began.

CÉSAR (1921-1998) César Baldaccini, better known as César, was born in Marseille in 1921 in the Belle-de-Mai district. He first attends the School of Fine Arts in Marseille and then the National School of Fine Arts in Paris until 1948. Trained in traditional techniques of sculpture, the artist begins to use recycled materials for economic reasons. Later, he will say: «Carrara marble was too expensive, old scrap iron was everywhere. I became a sculptor because I was poor!». In 1948, César discovers the technique of the autogenous welding. From 1949, the sculptor starts making zoomorphic and anthropomorphic works in Provence, essentially composed of metal sheets, plaster and wire. In 1954, Lucien Durand Gallery presents the first solo exhibition dedicated to the artist in Paris. On this occasion, he displays his now-famous «Poisson», a monumental work of 3.40 meters long, which will be subsequently bought by the Musée National d Art Monderne. With this innovative sculpture, the artist wins the «Collabo» Prize at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris. That same year, he sets up his workshop within the metal furniture factory of Villetaneuse. While visiting a breaker s yard in Gennevilliers in 1958, César discovers the hydraulic press. He is then captivated by the power of this American machine capable of reducing a car to the shape of a cube. This discovery represents a turning point in his artistic career from which he makes his first Compression, largely inspired by Duchamp s «ready-mades. In this series, César uses people s daily life objects and puts a blunt light on mass consumption and industrialisation.

CÉSAR (1921-1998) The artist exhibits his famous compressed cars at the Salon de Mai in 1960 and receives an invitation to be part of the Nouveaux Réalistes (New Realists) group on October 27, 1960. The movement brings together Pierre Restany, Yves Klein, Arman, Raymond Hains, Martial Raysse, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely and later Niki de Saint Phalle, Mimmo Rotella, and Gerard Deschamps. The group emerges in reaction to the abstraction advocated by Abstract Expressionism in the United States and the School of Paris s (École de Paris) traditionalism. Besides, the human body is also a key theme in César s work. During the exhibition «La Main, de Rodin à Picasso», organized at the Claude Bernard Gallery in 1965, the artist discovers the pantograph and makes his first Empreinte Humaine (Human footprint), consisting of enlarging anatomical mouldings. Inspired by Julius Caesar s myth, according to which the Roman Emperor used his thumb to indicate gladiators fate, the artist creates the first replica of his own thumb. From this series, he later produces a thumb of 12 meters high, today presented to the public at the Esplanade de la Defense in Paris. The Compressions undoubtedly remain César s most famous work. However, in his different series the artist constantly plays with contradictions. His Expansions, composed of polyurethane foam, lead to new artistic experiments based on the expansive properties of the substance. From 1968, the artist produces several international Happenings during which he pours directly the polyurethane foam onto the floor. The public, witness of the process, is eventually invited to leave with a piece of art.

CÉSAR (1921-1998) In 1970, César is appointed professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and teaches there until 1986. In 1976, the sculptor produces a first version of the statuette awarded during the «César du cinéma», the ultimate prize for French actors and actresses. However, he makes a beautiful and now famous compression the following year, which remains today the prize s symbol. The septuagenarian artist is chosen to represent France at the 46th Venice Biennale in 1995. His work «520 tons» - a 7.40 meters high Compression - occupies the entire exhibition hall of the French pavilion. Pierre Restany, art critic and founding member of the Nouveaux Réalistes movement, will describe his work as «a poetic recycling of the urban, industrial and advertising realm». César dies in Paris in 1998.

THE GALLERY Alexis Pentcheff Located in the centre of Marseille, the gallery was founded by Alexis and Giulia Pentcheff in 2009. Galerie Alexis Pentcheff specialises in painting from the latter half of the 19th Century to the first half of the 20th Century, including Impressionism and Modern Art, with a focus on the most talented artists who worked in Provence. However, the gallery opens also its doors to French and international artists whose work may be relevant to the gallery s artistic programme. Since its opening, the art gallery has organised more than thirty exhibitions and has participated in several international art fairs such as Brafa in Brussels. Over the years, Alexis Pentcheff gallery has strengthened its position in the arts scene and has collaborated on a variety of projects - exhibitions, catalogues, events. Henceforth, the art gallery has become a leading operator in the market of paintings from Provence and has seduced a wide range of amateurs and collectors. In 2015, the gallery launched two new central activities and doubles its size, offering collectors an entirely dedicated space: Le Puits Aux Livres, an art bookshop settled within the gallery and Encadrements by Pentcheff, a space dedicated to prestigious picture frames, adjoining the gallery. w w w. g a l e r i e p e n t c h e f f. f r

CÉSAR marseillais Selected works César, La Grosse, 1987 Bronze sculpture 137 x 88 x 110 cm César, Centaure, Hommage à Picasso 1983-1987 Bronze sculpture, casted by Bocquel, 5/8 101 x 105 x 48,5 cm César, Compression, circa 1970 Metal Compression 28 x 28 x 7 cm César, Combustion «Régie Française», 1982 Burnt matches, collage on paper signed 1982 and dated lower left 26 x 27 cm w w w. g a l e r i e p e n t c h e f f. f r

CÉSAR marseillais Contact and information Exhibition From 1 June to 12 July 2018 Opening 31 May from 7 pm Galerie Alexis Pentcheff 131-133 rue Paradis 13006 MARSEILLE T/ + 33 6 82 72 95 79 T/ + 33 4 91 42 81 33 Press contact From tuesday to saturday From 10 am to 12 pm and 2 pm to 6:30 pm E/ a.pentcheff@gmail.com Claudia Goletto T/ +33 6 49 00 86 00 T/ +44 747 239 363 E/ claudia.goletto@gmail.com IN PARTNERSHIP WITH