Philippe hiquily furniture

PHILIPPE HIQUILY


Philippe Hiquily () is a singular French artist. Sculptor but also furniture designer, Hiquily kept himself at distance from the art market and artistic movements. Free, hedonist, he gives his artworks a dreamlike and surrealist spirit. The nearly ubiquitous erotism and delicateness in his creations contrast with the brutal aspect of the found materials he uses as a basis for his work.
 Hiquily joined the National Fine Arts School in Paris in He rapidly joined César’s studio but developed a personal approach to his sculpture: using metal sheets, cheaper than bronze, and welding them with the direct metal technique. His encounter with artist Germaine Richier was essential: she advised him, encouraged him and even asked him for plinths and stands for her own sculptures. Hiquily soon became a member of the young generation of artists who brightened Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and after two exhibitions in the Palmes Gallery and Dragon Gallery, he was approached by The Contemporaries gallery in New York. The exhibition, organized in was a success. All the artworks were sold and one of them became a part of the Guggenheim Museum’s collection. His success echoed in France, and in the same year, his sculpture Jérémie won the critical prize at the very first Biennale of Paris.
In the early s he was noticed by the decorator Henri Samuel and soon became a remarkable reference in the world of decoration. This lucrative activity allowed him to continue to practice his sculptural work. From the s, very influenced by the work of American artist Alexander Calder, he explored the questions of mobility, balance and movement. By integrating electric motors to his pieces, he injected a new dimension in the traditional approach to sculpture. His notoriety increased and his work was sealed with history and his daily life: the artist received public commissions (such as a 6m tall Marathon runner for the city of Vitry-sur-Seine, in ) and his work has no

Innovative Artistry from the Beginning

Born in Paris in , Philippe Hiquily was the son of artists and showed a proclivity for artistic creation from a young age. Hiquily first studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Orléans, France, before moving on to the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in It was during this period that he found himself in the studio of Gimond-Janniot, where he would meet and work alongside creators such as César, Robert Muller, and Albert Féraud.

 

Hiquily went on to open his own studio in in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. It was here that he would create his first independent works and develop his “direct metal” technique, working the metal from sheets. During this period, he frequented different sculptors' workshops, like those of Germaine Richier and Jean Tinguely. With strong influences from the Cubist and Surrealist movements, Hiquily spent most of his early career creating iron, brass, and aluminum sculptures in sensual and dreamlike forms. At the Paris Biennale in , Hiquily won the Critic’s Prize for sculpture.

 

Bridging the Gap: From Sculpture to Furniture

As a connoisseur and admirer of Calder’s mobiles and Duchamp’s ready-mades, and with a penchant for primitive arts and surrealist experimentations, Hiquily was not predestined to be the furniture designer as he’s known today. Paradoxically, today, he owes much of his renown as one of the most acclaimed sculptors of the 20th century to his furniture.

 

In , the preeminent interior designer Henri Samuel, an admirer of Hiquily’s sculptural work, commissioned Hiquily to create pieces of furniture for his most prestigious clients, including Marie-Laure de Noailles, the Van Zuylen family, Bobby Hass, Louise de Vilmorin, Jacqueline Delubac, and the Rothschild family. This marked the beginning of a long and successful collaboration between the two men from

PHILIPPE HIQUILY ()

The French modernist sculptor, Philippe Hiquily, worked for a full decade creating abstract figurative sculpture before turning his attention in to making furniture from his favorite sculptural material: metal. Interestingly, the shift followed closely on the heels of a major honor which cemented his artistic prominence: in he won the prestigious Critic's Prize for sculpture at the Paris Biennial.
Although in the abstract, the concept of designing chairs and desks and tables would appear to be a radical departure from the creation of non-utilitarian sculpture, it was not--in Hiquily's case. His furniture, of which this custom-made altuglass and gilt metal desk is an outstanding early example from circa , is an extension of his work in sculpture. In fact, Hiquily's choice to create furniture in an ambitious way ended up informing his later, even more technically challenging sculptural efforts. His seats and surfaces, where he intends for people to share food and drink, and perform their intellectual work, carry with them all of the artist's sculptural preoccupations and enthusiasms. His mobiliers are every bit as beautifully crafted, and as overtly erotic, as his sculptures which take as their point of departure, almost without fail, the human (female) body in sexually ecstatic positions. As one writer noted, Hiquily's furniture is "dream-like and surrealist in spirit."

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  • Erotism Moving into Decorative Arts. In

    • Furniture Philippe Hiquily

    Combining modernist designs with raw humanity and insect physiognomy, Philippe Hiquily became world-renowned for his biomorphic furniture and sculptures. Born in France in , Philippe Hiquily spent more than a decade creating abstract figurative sculptures before turning his attention to producing his signature Philippe Hiquily furniture in Using his favorite sculptural material, metal, Philippe Hiquily's tables and sculptures were commissioned by numerous of his haute society peers. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre GeRead more

    Combining modernist designs with raw humanity and insect physiognomy, Philippe Hiquily became world-renowned for his biomorphic furniture and sculptures. Born in France in , Philippe Hiquily spent more than a decade creating abstract figurative sculptures before turning his attention to producing his signature Philippe Hiquily furniture in Using his favorite sculptural material, metal, Philippe Hiquily's tables and sculptures were commissioned by numerous of his haute society peers. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal.


    His unique take on design objects like candle holders, armchairs, and tables has made Philippe Hiquily furniture a sought-after addition to some of the most important private art collections and residential interiors in the world. Today, owning a Philippe Hiquily table, sculpture, or decorative piece places you among the ranks of the most passionate art collectors and admirers around the globe.

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  • Philippe Hiquily was a French artist
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