Philippe Hiquily (1925-2013) - Lot 194

Philippe Hiquily (1925-2013) Marathon runner 2004 Welded steel and black epoxy paint Edition J.M. Decrop - J.F. Roudillon signed and numbered "HIQUILY 7/8". H. 180 cm Philippe Hiquily studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1959, attending the studios of sculptors Marcel Gimond and Alfred Janniot, where his passion for sculpture was born. He made friends with César, Albert Féraud and Germaine Richier, who supported him and commissioned bases for his sculptures. At the time, he mainly sculpted bust portraits. The artist experimented with all media: plaster, clay and ceramics. Unable to find what he was looking for in any of these materials, Hiquily improvised as a scrap metal dealer, seeking new sources of inspiration in a variety of salvaged metals. Still focusing on the human figure, his works become larger and more vertical. His encounter with Calder's work was a revelation, and Hiquily turned to less dense, less frontal and lighter sculpture. La Marathonienne is emblematic of this new aesthetic of fragile balance, which would never leave him. Bibliography -Alexandra Marini, Tara Hiquily, Philippe Hiquily : catalog raisonné, 1948-2011, Paris, Loft éditions, 2012, vol. 1, p. 269.