Pierre Sarrazin

Biography

Born in 1945 in Mantes-la-Jolie, in the Yvelines, Pierre Sarrazin was steeped from an early age in the world of art by his sculptor godfather, who passed on his passion and introduced him to academic sculpture.

He draws, paints, and sculpts on every kind of medium, favouring wood for bas-reliefs, where he can give life to deeper forms. In parallel, he develops micro-sculpture, which he readily integrates into his pictorial work.

He composes an abstract painting where everything is vibration, an invitation to escape and to freedom — a freedom one finds again in his half-angel, half-human sculptures, witnesses of a world that is no longer the one in which the artist lives, and not yet the one to which he wishes to lead us.

He is one of those artists whose place is in the contemporary world, as a bearer of a message.

— Isabelle Gerbier, art historian (École du Louvre), museologist, ethnographer.

Chronology

1950

First mud fresco, painted with the paw of his dog Diane on the family living-room wallpaper.

1955

First work on paper mounted on wood — theme: aquatic flora and fauna.

1960

Wood engraving — theme: flora and fauna. Begins working with beeswax and his first lost-wax castings. Creates his first jewelry-sculptures.

1963

Work on the theme of the insect, for tableware and jewelry.

1965

Study and creation of his first tableware pieces — theme: the scarab beetle revered by the Egyptians.

1975

Creation of micro-sculptures. Meets Jean-François Hugo. Works on the œuvre of Picasso.

1976

Galerie Hauteville (Brussels, Belgium) — sculptures and jewelry.

1977

Guest of honour at the Haute Antiquité fair, Hardelot Le Touquet: restoration of Céladon, exhibition of tableware, paintings, woodwork and inlays. Galerie Frédéric Gollong (Saint-Paul-de-Vence). Galerie Jacques Racape (Paris) — drawings on the angel, micro-sculptures, artist jewelry.

1978

Galerie Grévy (Megève) — jewelry and micro-sculpture.

1979

Galerie Marie Zisswiller (Paris) — theme: the insect. Private exhibition at the Mas Olivier de Serres, Avignon — the angel in all its states.

1980

Gold medallions (923/1000) after Picasso, for Pierre Hugo. Study of Max Ernst’s chess set. Work on Salvador Dalí’s snail cutlery. Galerie Gallarte (Paris) with engraver Louis Calvaert-Brun. Bijorca, sponsored by the Erserm group.

1981

Galerie Marie Zisswiller (Paris) — theme: the bird.

1982

Centre Georges-Pompidou (Paris) — sculpture in precious metals, sponsored by Caplain Saint-André. Maison de la culture de Provins (Hôtel Savigny) with Françoise Chanu and Daniel Charles Lambert. Hôtel Arawak in Gosier (Guadeloupe) — paintings and sculptures.

1983

Town hall of Pacy-sur-Eure — the undone man, the fallen angel. Editorial in Mariage no. 153.

1984

Private exhibition in Carpentras with Raya Sorkine — the fiddler. Maison de la culture de Belfort — sculpture for a body. Galerie Iris Clerc (Paris).

1985

Galerie Marie Zisswiller (Paris) — flora. Research in Haute-Normandie on religious monuments at Bagnoles-de-l’Orne — esoteric sculptures.

1986

Château de Rochegude — divine nourishment (bread and wine). International show at Sophia Antipolis — contemporary artist jewelry. Galerie Le Pré aux Pénitents (La Garde-Adhémar) — the angel. Galerie Marie Zisswiller — the body’s antenna. Galerie Sully (Rosny-sur-Seine) — the angel. Société industrielle, Mulhouse Stock Exchange, with Raya Sorkine.

1987

Galerie Le Point du jour (Tours) — studies on the body of the angel. Private exhibition in Saint-Paul-de-Caisson with Raya Sorkine — Steal the stolen angels.

1988

Galerie ATP (Paris) — Hebrew art. Château d’Osthoffen, with P.-H. Goralsky and D. Roths, under the patronage of the President of the Haut-Rhin general council and the Lions Club. Galerie Le Point du jour (Tours).

1989

Galerie Le Point du jour (Tours) — Encounter.

1990

Galerie Marie Zisswiller (Paris) — the body of the angel.

1991

Crafts festival in Reviers — the gold of Brocéliande.

1992

Groupama (Tours) — paintings, sculptures and artist jewelry.

1993

Galerie Access Art (Tours) in March. Hotel London (San Sebastián, Spain) in June. Hotel Mercure (Bayonne) in July. Hotel Atxenia (Biriatou) in August.

1994

Galerie Marie Zisswiller (Paris) — expected and unexpected jewelry.

1995

Galerie Bouscayrol (Biarritz) — meeting with Isabelle Gerbier — the body’s antenna and its mandala.

1996

Bois Brinson estate — the body’s antenna and its mandala.

1997

Private exhibition at Château de Paradis (Amboise).

1998

Galerie Bouscayrol (Biarritz) — Beyond the real, group show with Bompard, Breteau, Cohier, Combas, de Wailly, Labadie, Loumet, Le Proust, Marit, Mentor, Moazzezi, Morin, Pignoux, Pipet, Trébuchet. Hôtel du Palais, Édouard VII salon (Biarritz).

1999

Galerie Espace Harmonie (Paris) — paintings.

2000

Planète Havas Voyage (Paris) — journey into the heart of angels.

2002

Château Les Sept Tours (golf) and Château de Candé for La forêt des livres, organised by Gonzague Saint Bris.

2003

Espace Château-Neuf (Tours). Studio of Alfredo Vaez, designer (Tours).

2004

Ripault fair, Monts (Indre-et-Loire).

2005

Le Bel Indifférent (Tours).

2006

Salle des Templiers, Beaulieu-lès-Loches, with painter Dominique Porcel — 24–29 May.

Materials

  • Paintings: oil and acrylic, predominantly.
  • Goldsmithing: fine gold 1000/1000, 950/1000, 850/1000.
  • Jewelry: 850/1000, 750/1000.
  • Small sculpture: gold or silver, 800/1000, 750/1000.

Micro-sculptures may be made of gold, silver, gilded silver, chrome-cobalt, nickel-chrome, steel or titanium.