The Graces – Mathilde
15 in / 38 cm
Coquetish Mathilde is a lovely curvaceous woman admiring her figure in a mirror. Naked, she is choosing her footwear before getting dressed. One hand is delicately replacing a lock of stray hair under her hat. Her head and neck are reminiscent of a cooing dove.
Mathilde represents those lovely farm women with their imposing chests, moving towards the balustrade to receive the Eucharist at Sunday mass. Standing straight and proud, they would attract the glance of many men.
Anecdote
In 1997, I got a phone call from Ms. Janette Bertrand, the prolific Quebec writer. She was writing a TV movie on obsession with weight. In the film, a woman on her nth diet meets a sculptor who will help her see her own beauty.
Albert Millaire plays the sculptor and Pauline Lapointe plays the role of the woman tortured by her weight. The sculptor in the story has a predilection for big women.
I produced five sculptures for this movie. I truly wanted to meet this challenge, to finally show that sensuality does not belong only to the skinny.
Treatment
Bronze (15in/38cm). The skin is treated with ferric nitrate. The hat is white, the shoe is black and the hair is bluish.
A series of eight and four artist’s proofs.
