{"id":91965,"date":"2017-12-19T16:16:29","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T15:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/?p=91965"},"modified":"2017-12-19T17:52:52","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T16:52:52","slug":"cesar-retrospective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2017\/12\/19\/cesar-retrospective\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00e9sar, La retrospective and a market inconsistency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-91965 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc02717\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/DSC02717-320x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-91957\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-91957'>\n\t\t\t\tC\u00e9sar, Compression Ricard, pressed car, 1962.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc02734\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/DSC02734-320x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-91961\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-91961'>\n\t\t\t\tC\u00e9sar, Thumb, bronze, 1965.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc02666\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/DSC02666-480x320.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-91953\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-91953'>\n\t\t\t\tC\u00e9sar, La Retrospective, Centre Pompidou, Paris.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc02699\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/DSC02699-480x320.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-91954\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-91954'>\n\t\t\t\tC\u00e9sar, Enveloppage, Telephone and plexiglass,1971.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc02724\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/DSC02724-320x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-91956\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-91956'>\n\t\t\t\tC\u00e9sar, Victory of Villetaneuse, iron, 1965.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc02730\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/DSC02730-320x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-91960\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-91960'>\n\t\t\t\tC\u00e9sar, Woman plaque, iron, 1963.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc02704\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/DSC02704-480x320.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-91955\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-91955'>\n\t\t\t\tStephanie Busuttil Janssen at C\u00e9sar, La Retrospective, Centre Pompidou, Paris.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2017\/12\/19\/cesar-retrospective\/img_20170127_160955\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/IMG_20170127_160955-480x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"C\u00e9sar with art collector Alberto Rossini while producing La Suite Milanaise, Briosco, Italy, 1998.\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-91970\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-91970'>\n\t\t\t\tC\u00e9sar with art collector Alberto Rossini while producing La Suite Milanaise, Briosco, Italy, 1998.  \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The retrospective exhibition that the Centre Pompidou dedicates to C\u00e9sar (Baldaccini) is very important not only for being the largest show ever dedicated to the French sculptor, and the first one of this kind after the artist death, 20 years ago. Its importance is also due to the fact that the museum which organized the show is at the moment one of the few art public institutions preserving those reputation and independence needed for properly placing an artist in the history of art. Which is the private art institution or collector&#8217;s foundation that could do better? Thanks Centre Pompidou for being here, despite Koons and Hockney.<\/p>\n<p>C\u00e9sar is France&#8217;s greatest sculptor of the XXI Century and likely one of the top five in Europe. We would place him next to contemporary masters such as Joseph Beuys, Henry Moore, Pietro Consagra, Christo, Joan Mir\u00f3. He was born after the Great War, in 1921, the same year as Beuys. He studied at the \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts both in Marseille and in Paris, but had to wait until 1960 to cross the threshold that led him to the future of modernity. That year he discovered the hydraulic press of the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Francaise des Ferrailles in Gennevilliers, a suburb 15-kilometres north of Paris. There and with that press he started doing what he called &#8216;Compressions&#8217;: found objects and materials turned by the powerful press into vertical self standing parallelepiped.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;My sculptures developed in line with the possibilities offered by the materials and instruments \u2013 C\u00e9sar claimed in 1959. One of these possibilities matters to me above all: being able to destroy. This is just as important as being able to construct&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>In 1961, thanks to this radical artistic gesture, C\u00e9sar was invited by proto-curator Pierre Restany and artist Yves Klein to join the Nouveau R\u00e9alistes. The group was founded at Galleria Apollinaire in Milan the year before, and already included Arman, Francois Dufr\u00eane, Raymond Hains, Martial Raysse, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, Jacques de la Villegl\u00e9. The group was active until 1970. During this prolific period of time C\u00e9sar also discovered the pantograph and created a body of magnified sculptures representing realistic human thumbs, breasts, fists, or hands. In 1967 he launched the Expansions, hence sculptures created by pouring polyurethane foam on a flat surface. In 1970 he went back to metal sculptures and experienced welded bronze and iron, forging monumental pieces such as the Centaure, Hommage to Picasso (1985) or the Flying Frenchman, which was installed outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, in Kowloon (1992).<\/p>\n<p>In 1998, in collaboration with entrepreneur and art collector <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rossiniartsite.com\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alberto Rossini<\/a>, C\u00e9sar conceived la Suite Milanaise, that is a series of 15 squashed FIAT Marea car shells repainted in the manufactures colours. Stephanie Busuttil Janssen, C\u00e9sar partner in life at that time and now Director of the C\u00e9sar Foundation, assisted the artist, while he was working at his last main sculpture. He passed away a few months later.<\/p>\n<p>However, despite such a successful career and outstanding production, C\u00e9sar still has to win the attention of the market. The artist&#8217; record at auction is &#8216;only&#8217; \u20ac 327.000, buyer premium included (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sothebys.com\/en\/auctions\/ecatalogue\/2015\/art-contemporain-pf1515\/lot.16.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Centaure, Sotheby&#8217;s, 2015<\/a>). The current price of the Compressions from La Suite Milanaise is around \u20ac 300.000, and a seminal piece such as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sothebys.com\/en\/auctions\/ecatalogue\/2015\/art-contemporain-pf1515\/lot.6.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Compression &#8216;Zim&#8217;<\/a>, executed between 1960 and 1961 by the artist for Marie-Laure de Noailles, failed at auction (Sotheby&#8217;s, 2015). The French Vicomtesse asked C\u00e9sar to compress her own Zim car, a Soviet version of the American Cadillac, and the piece was installed in the lobby of the Noailles private mansion in Paris. Conservatively estimated to sell between \u20ac 600.000 and 800.000, the sculpture couldn&#8217;t find any buyer. A unique piece such as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sothebys.com\/en\/auctions\/ecatalogue\/2013\/art-contemporain-pf1315\/lot.19.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">L&#8217;homme de Villetaneuse<\/a> was sold for \u20ac 301,500 at Sotheby&#8217;s in 2013. In comparison to certain living artists such as Dahn Vo, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2016\/10\/08\/six-easy-steps-to-cover-the-london-contemporary-art-week\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ndjema Akunili Crosby<\/a>, or Adrian Ghenie these are peanuts. Now the question is, who is wrong? The Centre Pompidou, that would still never give its top floor galleries to a market darling teenager, or the auction houses market, which is apparently prone to forget the fundamentals of an artist career? Only time will say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Centre Pompidou celebrates C\u00e9sar with a granitic show bringing together 130 pieces by the French master. Will auctions keep on underestimating him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1796],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mapping-the-artscape"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}