Philippe Hiquily (1925-2013) 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 1953. 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 1959 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 1960s 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 1980s, 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 1981) and his work has now been exhibited in numerous museums (MoMA & Guggenheim, New York, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal and the National Modern Art Museum and Center Georges Pompidou in Paris, Modern art Museum of La Havane).
Hiquily is an artist who claims pleasure and enchantment. He changed our vision of an artwork, not only by giving sculptural work multiple facets - sometimes art object, sometimes furniture - but especially by placing it at the center of an interventionist approach, by introducing the seesaw (La Funambuleuse, 1981, the Pirouettes,1985-1990, the Galipettes, 1988-2000, The Claudinette,1999, The Jumper, 2002.