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a silver sculpture sitting on a wooden table in a rooma silver sculpture on a wooden table in a rooma silver sculpture on a table in a room
FauveParis

204 - Philippe Scrive (born in 1927) Le Pouce 1971 In polished alu…
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Estimate €500 - €800
Sale commission
Description
Philippe Scrive (born in 1927) Le Pouce 1971 In polished aluminium, signed and dated, marked EA1 and bearing the foundry mark of Blanchet H. H. 35 cm, D. 18 cm Born in 1927 in Ville-Marie, Témiscamingue (Quebec, Canada), Philippe Scrive developed a genuine fascination with wood from his teenage years onwards, drawn to the abundant timber in the Canadian forests that surrounded him. From immense, unworked logs, shaped with a chainsaw, sledgehammer and chisel, he would bring forth soft, fluid and generously rounded forms, transforming the roughness of the material and the brutality of the labour into a sculptural language of great sensitivity. 
It was in the wake of the First World War that Philippe Scrive’s father, a member of a prominent textile family from Lille, decided to leave everything behind and move to Canada. Philippe thus spent his childhood living the life of a trapper at the ends of the earth ‘in a bottomless forest’*. Driven by a vivid imagination, he decided to pursue art studies and enrolled at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Quebec. His thirst for discovery soon led him, as early as 1952 (at the age of just 19), to set off for ‘the place where anything is possible’: Paris. There, he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts. The culture shock was immense, and his life as an artist and as a man would bear witness to this. 
In Paris, he met Brancusi, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, who left a profound mark on him, as demonstrated by his colossal works—at once archaic and vibrant—whose verticality is always in dialogue with the surrounding architecture. He became friends with César, who affectionately nicknamed him ‘The Canadian’, and, above all, with the great architect from the North (of France this time!) Jean Willerval. Numerous collaborations would punctuate their respective careers: the portico of the Lieu d’Art et d’Action Contemporaine in Dunkirk, the Palais de Justice in Lille, the Church of Saint-Joseph in Nevers, and so on. 
These monumental works can be found in Paris (Boulevard de Port Royal), Montreuil (the monumental fountain of 1976, which has, sadly, since been dismantled…) and Dunkirk, as well as in Korea and, of course, in his native city, Montreal. They dominate their surroundings with their spectacular dimensions. At the same time, in his studio in Fontenay-aux-Roses, he pursued a more personal creative exploration through sculptures of a more modest scale and by experimenting with a wide variety of materials: wood was soon joined by thermoformed PVC, metal and stone… Scrive is driven by a passion for creation, and he creates abundantly. 
Whatever the nature of the material – wood, slate slabs found in the Cévennes, marble, bronze, PVC or even bricks – he reveals its malleability by favouring supple lines that delicately intertwine. His approach to art is what gives it its coherence: throughout his life, he has used whatever material presents itself to him, combining technical mastery with formal harmony. ‘When I create a sculpture,’ he admits, ‘it is the material at my disposal, rather than the subject, that serves as the starting point; I then proceed by assembling lines and forms. It is often in the very disorder that results from this that I find the true meaning of my work. Nature provides us with all manner of materials that stimulate my imagination to find ways of shaping them as I see fit.’ Throughout his career, Philippe Scrive has developed a distinctive visual language, characterised by raw, organic forms and a diverse array of creatures. His creatures, by turns playful and mischievous, powerful and silent, seem imbued with a presence of their own and reveal the personality of their creator, who – now aged 99 – still embodies all these qualities! They invite the eye to wander freely between abstraction and figuration. 
Having taken part on several occasions in the Salon de Mai and the Salon de La Jeune Sculpture, he has held solo exhibitions at the CRAC at the Château de Tremblay in 1996, at the Musée d’art et d’histoire in Meudon in 2002, and elsewhere. In 1972, he was awarded the Prix de la Jeune Sculpture and, in 2008, the Institut français’ Sculpture Prize for his entire body of work (whilst Geneviève Asse received the prize for painting!).  More recently, in 2017, his sculptures were exhibited at the Chapelle de Clairefontaine in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines. *In the words of his daughter, Marguerite Scrive, in *Philippe Scrive: From Quebec to Paris*, 2009.
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About the sale Special Edition ‘Redécouvertes’ Sale – Atelier Philippe Scrive
Auction location
Auction time 09/26/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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