The sculptor Antoine Poncet is dead

There are artists who, far from glitter, bling-bling and spotlights, patiently build a work, in an original and rigorous formal logic. Former assistant of John Arp (1886-1966), who directed him towards a very pure form of abstraction, discreetly becoming at the end of his career, in 2009, president of the Academy of Fine Arts, where his urbanity was marvellous, the sculptor Antoine Poncet was one of them. He died in Châtillon (Hauts-de-Seine), Saturday August 13, at the age of 94.

Born in Paris on May 5, 1928, he was a child of the ball: grandson of the artist Maurice Denis (1870-1943) – member of the Nabis group –, son of the painter Marcel Poncet (1894-1953) , he was first trained by his father in craft techniques, stained glass and mosaic. The family moved to Switzerland in 1938, and it was there that Antoine Poncet discovered sculpture, following the teaching of Germaine Richier (1902-1959).

In 1955, he won the federal prize for sculpture in Switzerland, which enabled him to represent his adopted country at the Venice Biennale the following year.

In 1947, he moved to Paris, in the former studio of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), a close friend of his parents, to whom he owes his first name. He follows, at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, the lessons ofOssip Zadkine (1890-1967), frequents Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), successfully participates in salons for young artists. With so many good fairies around him, he could have immediately taken off on his own, but he preferred to enter Jean Arp’s studio in 1952, where he remained assistant and practitioner until 1955. The latter definitively converted him to the charms of abstraction, at a time when, between figurative and abstract, artists were called upon to clearly choose their camp.

His works from this period are clearly marked by the work of Jean Arp, in particular by very organic curves, seemingly natural forms. He gradually emancipated, and it was an already original young artist who won, in 1955, the federal prize for sculpture in Switzerland, which allowed him to represent his adopted country at the Venice Biennale the following year. . However, he had to wait until 1959 to have his first personal exhibition in Paris, at the petulant gallery owner Iris Clert, who was then one of the muses of New Realism. Success was there, in particular thanks to the meeting he then had with the American (of Canadian origin) Nathan Cummings (1896-1985).

You have 47.39% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.