Le Griffu
- MaterialBronze
- Dimensions82 x 86 x 80 cm
- On viewCurrently not exhibited
- Copyright© Rheinisches Bildarchiv, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022
More about the artwork
The French artist Germaine Richier created mixed creatures comprising human, animal, and fantasy forms, which she herself called “hybrids.” She studied in Paris with Antoine Bourdelle, a student of Auguste Rodin, and from the 1940s she revolutionized sculpture. Having lived through wars and catastrophes, she wanted to make the fears associated with them visible in her artworks. “Le Griffu” bears witness to the nightmarish experiences of war, as well as to Richier’s fascination with myths and natural magic; the genderless, bent body with animal head and clawed appendages at the elbows turns out to be a strange beast, something between bat and human. Clamped to rigid rods, the bronze surface is fissured and perforated. Thus, the hybrid creature tells of the fundamental openness and vulnerability of the body and how it is in constant transformation. At the same time, this sculpture addresses the search for a new human image in the shattered reality of the 1950s.
