CESAR César Baldaccini, dit (Marseille 1921-Paris... Lot 85

CESAR César Baldaccini, dit (Marseille 1921-Paris 1998) "EIFFEL PLATE", 1989 Welded bronze Roman founder Barelier EA 2/4 280 x 185 x 150 cm Private collection-"[...]There is no figurative or abstract Caesar but only one Caesar experiencing the material he never stops "informing" and working with, conscious that it is not passive and that it is his responsibility to reveal a certain internal necessity..." Bernard Blistène, César et César, taken from the catalogue of the exhibition César, la Rétrospective, 2017-2018, Éditions Centre Pompidou, Paris, page 34 On 20 October 1984 in Jouy-en-Josas, César undertakes, based on dismantled beams from the Eiffel Tower lightening operation, the creation of an 18-metre-high, 500-tonne "tribute to Eiffel" in the park of the Château du Montcel to mark the inauguration of the Cartier Foundation. The work will be completed in 1989. The "Eiffel Plaque" is the most emblematic testimony to this. On this subject, Jean-Charles Hachet wrote: "In hindsight, we can say that these plaques are of great importance in Caesar's Work. Indeed, not only are they remarkable for the technical improvement that governs their development, but they are also a sign of a new stylistic orientation. The purpose of the plates is the metal itself. The accumulation of elements, their juxtaposition, their overlap, their modular and repetitive design, lead to a quantitative language of matter, to a "self-expression" of the material, prelude to the 1960 compressions" Jean-Charles Hachet, César or the metamorphoses of a great art, Editions Varia, 1989