A Perspex and metal table in the manner of César

César was a French sculptor born in 1921 of Italian parents in the working class neighbourhood of la Belle-de-Mai in Marseilles.  His full name was César Baldaccini, but he is usually known simply as César.  After studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Marseilles (1935-9) he went on to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1943-8).  He began making sculptures by welding together pieces of scrap metal in 1952 and first made his reputation with solid welded sculptures of insects, various kinds of animals, nudes, etc.  His early work used soldered and welded metal as well as junk materials, and by 1960 César was considered one of France's leading sculptors.  In that year, on a visit to a scrap merchant in search of metal, he saw a hydraulic crushing machine in operation, and decided to experiment with it in his sculpture.  He astonished his followers by showing three crushed cars at a Paris exhibition. It was for these 'Compressions' that César became renowned.  César was at the forefront of the Nouveau Réalisme movement with his radical compressions (compacted automobiles, discarded metal, or rubbish), expansions (polyurethane foam sculptures), and fantastic representations of animals and insects.
82cm.; 32ins high by 252cm.; 99ins long by 65cm.; 26ins wide