César Baldaccini known as César
French sculptor, 1921 – 1998

César Baldaccini, known as César, is a revolutionary sculptor in the 20th century, a major figure of New Realism.

“I have no imagination. It only comes to me with touch and eyes. Without these two elements, the brain does not function. It’s my hands that make my head work. »

César is a French artist, heir to the tradition of welded sculpture and inventor of new techniques. He worked in plaster before creating his first sculptures in scrap metal. If, for the sake of economy, he turned to inexpensive recycled materials, he very quickly discovered, in metals, the place of expression of his creative power.

At the same time, his research led him to the invention of more daring creative techniques, first and foremost the “compression” of automobile bodies. He discovered this technique in 1958, while browsing at a scrap dealer in Gennevilliers. Using a hydraulic press, he compresses cars and exhibits them to the public like sculptures. This act of appropriation was launched as a challenge to the consumer society, moreover his “Compressions” caused a scandal at the May Salon of 1960.

He then created the polyurethane “Expansions” from 1965, in his hands, the liquid resin spreads horizontally, swells, wrinkles, launches into the void that it molds. The “Expansions” come in bronze variations. This year was also the year in which the artist created one of his best-known pieces: his Thumb, 1.85m high, often reproduced since. The one which was installed in 1994 in the La Défense district is 12 meters high. To create these pieces, he uses an “enlarger” and synthetic resin for molding, starting from the idea of ​​the hand, he arrives at the “Thumb”. His Footprints divide criticism and pit supporters of “classical” vocations on the one hand and defenders of the sculptor’s “avant-garde” creations on the other.

In 1970, he created the Fist, a monumental sculpture weighing 7 tonnes in polished cast stainless steel, installed on the parade ground at the Lycée Militaire de Saint-Cyr. In 1983, he began creating his Centaur in homage to Picasso, a 4.70 meter high sculpture, completed two years later. The sculpture is installed at the Red Cross intersection in Paris. Also in 1983, César produced his Homage to Eiffel for the Cartier Foundation in Jouy-en-Josas.