La Crinière PHILIPPE HIQUILY

Between 1979 and the 2000s, Hiquily also produced several engraving plates. Here he combined the work of an « illustrator », etching the figures and touching up the plates with ink, and that of a sculptor. After the engravings were printed, he turned the hammered brass plates into sculptural work in its own right. He domed them with a hammer, rendering them useless for further engravings but not destroying them. The engraving plates, generally thought of as a medium for creating works on paper, were reborn as « sculpture » when transformed into bas reliefs.

This work is listed in the Catalogue Raisonné of the artist under the reference number: 1007 bis - 05.Des.Cr.50e.Gr.40

Graduated from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in 1953, Philippe Hiquily quickly detached himself from academic sculpture to develop his technique of «direct metal» inspired by Julio González. More than half century, he explored the work of metal (iron, brass, bronze, steel) in all its forms and he develops a unique sculptural language around his favorite themes of women, balance and movement.

Like Alexander Calder, whom he admired, Philippe HIQUILY is also famous for his monumental sculptures that have shaped the French and international public space since the 1960s, such as his Girouettes (Weather Vanes) designed for a 12m high project in Marbella (Spain) and Shanghai (China) or his legendary 6 meters Marathonienne set up in 1981 in Vitry sur Seine.

Hiquily has created a protective image of woman - dual, enigmatic, universal and experimented for a time with motorized, moving sculptures. It identifies his unified journey with an emblematic work that places
Hiquily among the great creators of the second half of the 20th century.