artist/ BALDACCINI

FRANCE

Born in Marseille into a family of Italian origin, César Baldaccini studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Marseille before continuing his training at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. From the 1950s onwards, he attracted attention with sculptures made from pieces of scrap iron and reclaimed metal, which he assembled and welded into new forms. In 1961, he joined the Nouveau Réalisme movement alongside artists including Arman, Yves Klein and Jean Tinguely. César went on to develop several major bodies of work that would define his career: his welded iron sculptures, the celebrated Compressions and later the Expansions. Throughout his career, he continually explored the possibilities of materials, transforming elements from the industrial world into sculptures of remarkable expressive power. His work now occupies a major place in the history of twentieth-century French sculpture.