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| "Youpi!" by Anne Itzykson |
The small commune of Le Mée-sur-Seine, south of Paris, is known as a place where the well-heeled like to live. Designer Karl Lagerfeld owned a spacious home there, and members of one royal family are said to have property around the area.
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| "La Source" by Itzykson |
But for
art lovers, a trip to Le Mée-sur-Seine is worthwhile for the striking sculpture
by French artist Anne Itzykson that graces the roundabout at the junction of
several of the commune’s main roads.
Titled “La Source”,
the tall nude woman in bronze forms part of a 3-meter high fountain, and was inaugurated
in 2008, after three years of work. It
is one of the few public installations that Itzykson has done, and viewing it certainly
beats gawking at mere mansions.
Working from
her atelier in the 20th district of Paris, Itzykson is among the unusual breed of
artists who currently devote themselves to bronze and marble, carrying on the
tradition of sculptors such as Auguste Rodin, whom she cites as an inspiration.
When she does
group exhibitions, Itzykson’s work stands out both for the artistry and the
materials she uses. At a recent show at
Paris’ famed Jardin du Luxembourg, for instance, her sculptures attracted a good
deal of attention, offering something different from the customary oils and
pastels.
“I love
everything about bronze and marble,” she told Tasshon in an interview. “I like
the feel, and the look, even when the results can be so completely different.”
Itzykson
focuses mostly on the female form but she also does sculptures of children,
individually or in groups. She often employs her son and daughter as the models,
while the male figures she has created tend to be portrayals of her husband.
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| Itzykson in her Paris studio. (© McKenzie) |
She said that
her “passion” for art began when she was 16 years old and saw the poster for an
exhibition by Jean-Jacques Pradier - a 19th-century Swiss-born
French sculptor who was influenced by classical art.
“The poster
showed a close-up of the back of a woman sitting on a velvet cushion, her hair
woven in braids,” Itzykson recalled. “I
remember asking my grandmother to take me to see this show although at the time
I was not yet interested in sculpture. The softness, femininity and versatility
of this marble cushion really struck me.”
As a teenager,
Itzykson did not think that art was a career option, so she chose to study
marketing, doing a master’s in the United States. While there, she took a
pottery course and realized that she had a talent for forming human
figures.
“What truly
inspires me the most is the ‘human being’ which I observe everywhere and
continuously,” she told Tasshon. “Its expressions intrigue me, not just the
faces, but each part of the body: hands, feet. Everything speaks.”
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| Sculptures by Itzykson |
Itzykson
worked in marketing for several years before turning fully to art. It wasn’t an easy path because using bronze
and marble is quite a labour-intensive process.
For bronze, the
first step is to create the figure in clay, then to make a mold, which
sometimes needs to be in several parts.
Following this, the artist makes a wax replica, completes several other
procedures, and finally pours the molten metal.
The final
stages include welding separate pieces of the sculpture together, sanding the
object, and colouring the bronze. Having access to a foundry is a must, so one
can understand why bronze sculptures often carry a high price tag. And Itzykson’s
works are no exception.
Despite the
“technical” aspects of producing such sculptures, the artist said that it’s all
still an “instinctive" process.
“It’s as if my hands are detached from my mind and searching in the clay
for a language to express an idea, a thought,” she explained. “When my pieces
are finished, I become the viewer trying to understand and decipher what I
meant.”
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| The limited-edition "Youpi!" series, by Itzykson |
She sometimes
adds a different material to the bronze, such as crystal. One of her most recent works,
“Youpi!”, shows a child with tangled locks sitting on a crystal ball in a pose of joyfulness, arms outstretched. The blend of materials and rich colours are
instantly eye-catching, but the process was rather difficult, Itzykson said. And
she still has doubts about the finished objects.
“Are my works
successful? Who can say? Certainly not me,” she told Tasshon. “It is others who
will judge.”
Any visitor
to Mée-sur-Seine who drives around her bronze fountain would be quick to
reassure her. - L. McKenzie
