Germaine Richier

A major reassessment of Germaine Richier's work and impact on 20th-century sculpture. Germaine Richier (190259) occupies a central position in the history of modern sculpture. Predominantly working in bronze, her art revitalized the form of the figure, forging radical new images of men and women in the post-war period which blended the human body and natural forms in a hybrid of abstraction and figuration. As the first woman artist to have a solo exhibition in her own lifetime at the Muse National dArt Moderne, Paris, she held a unique position in the 1940s and 50s as a successful female career artist, exhibiting internationally and developing a style that has been largely overshadowed by the predominant male canon. This major reassessment of Richiers complete oeuvre establishes her key position within the artistic context of her time and, more broadly, her influential impact on 20th-century sculpture. Writers including Mika Biermann, Marie Darrieussecq, Maryline Desbiolles and Philippe Lanon, the philosopher Genevive Fraisse, the anthropologist Charles Stpanoff and the artist ORLAN, evaluate the contemporary resonance of Richiers creations, where her themes of identity, existence and our relationship with nature are increasingly relevant today. An anthology of the artists own writings, plus extracts from previously unpublished letters, complete this definitive volume, marking a long overdue appreciation of Germaine Richiers distinct artistic originality.