Philippe Scrive (born in 1927) Rabbit S 2018 Carved wood...
Philippe Scrive (born in 1927)
Rabbit S 2018 Carved wood H. 50 cm W. 18 cm D. 5 cm Condition report: Wear on the wood (white marks)
Born in 1927 in Ville-Marie, Témiscamingue (Quebec, Canada), Philippe Scrive developed a genuine fascination with wood—which abounds in the surrounding Canadian forests—as early as his teenage years. Working from massive raw logs, shaped with a chainsaw, sledgehammer, and chisel, he brought forth soft, fluid, and generously rounded forms, transforming the roughness of the material and the brutality of the labor into a sculptural language of great sensitivity.
It was in the wake of World War I that Philippe Scrive’s father, a member of a prominent textile family from Lille, decided to leave everything behind for Canada. Philippe thus experienced a true trapper’s childhood at the end of the world “in a bottomless forest”*. Driven by a vivid imagination, he decided to pursue artistic studies and enrolled at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Quebec City. His thirst for discovery soon led him, as early as 1952 (at only 19 years old), 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 it.
In Paris, he met Brancusi, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright, who left a profound mark on him, as evidenced by his colossal works—at once archaic and vibrant—whose verticality always engages in a 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 Saint-Joseph Church in Nevers, and so on.
These monumental works were installed in Paris (Boulevard de Port Royal), Montreuil (the monumental fountain from 1976, which has since, alas, been dismantled…), and Dunkirk, as well as in Korea and, of course, in his native Montreal. They command the space with their spectacular dimensions. At the same time, in his studio in Fontenay-aux-Roses, he pursues a more personal artistic exploration through smaller-scale sculptures and the use of a wide variety of materials: in addition to wood, he soon began working with thermoformed PVC, metal, and stone… Scrive is driven by a passion for creation, and he creates generously.
Regardless of the material—wood, slate slabs found in the Cévennes, marble, bronze, PVC, or even bricks—he reveals its malleability by favoring supple lines that delicately intertwine. His approach to art is what gives his work its coherence: throughout his life, he has used whatever materials have been available 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 offers us all kinds of materials that stimulate my imagination to find ways to shape them as I see fit.”
Throughout his career, Philippe Scrive has developed a unique visual language, filled with raw, organic forms and a diverse array of creatures. His creatures—sometimes playful and mischievous, sometimes powerful and silent—seem imbued with a presence and reveal the personality of their creator, who, at 99 years old today, still embodies all these qualities! They invite the viewer’s gaze to move freely between abstraction and figuration.
Having participated on several occasions in the Salon de Mai and the Salon de La Jeune Sculpture, he has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the CRAC at the Château de Tremblay in 1996, at the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Meudon in 2002, and elsewhere. In 1972, he received the Prix de la Jeune Sculpture, and in 2008, the Institut de France Sculpture Prize for his entire body of work (at the same time that 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.
Philippe Scrive (born in 1927)
Rabbit S 2018 Carved wood H. 50 cm W. 18 cm D. 5 cm Condition report: Wear on the wood (white marks)
Born in 1927 in Ville-Marie, Témiscamingue (Quebec, Canada), Philippe Scrive developed a genuine fascination with wood—which abounds in the surrounding Canadian forests—as early as his teenage years. Working from massive raw logs, shaped with a chainsaw, sledgehammer, and chisel, he brought forth soft, fluid, and generously rounded forms, transforming the roughness of the material and the brutality of the labor into a sculptural language of great sensitivity.
It was in the wake of World War I that Philippe Scrive’s father, a member of a prominent textile family from Lille, decided to leave everything behind for Canada. Philippe thus experienced a true trapper’s childhood at the end of the world “in a bottomless forest”*. Driven by a vivid imagination, he decided to pursue artistic studies and enrolled at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Quebec City. His thirst for discovery soon led him, as early as 1952 (at only 19 years old), 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 it.
In Paris, he met Brancusi, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright, who left a profound mark on him, as evidenced by his colossal works—at once archaic and vibrant—whose verticality always engages in a 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 Saint-Joseph Church in Nevers, and so on.
These monumental works were installed in Paris (Boulevard de Port Royal), Montreuil (the monumental fountain from 1976, which has since, alas, been dismantled…), and Dunkirk, as well as in Korea and, of course, in his native Montreal. They command the space with their spectacular dimensions. At the same time, in his studio in Fontenay-aux-Roses, he pursues a more personal artistic exploration through smaller-scale sculptures and the use of a wide variety of materials: in addition to wood, he soon began working with thermoformed PVC, metal, and stone… Scrive is driven by a passion for creation, and he creates generously.
Regardless of the material—wood, slate slabs found in the Cévennes, marble, bronze, PVC, or even bricks—he reveals its malleability by favoring supple lines that delicately intertwine. His approach to art is what gives his work its coherence: throughout his life, he has used whatever materials have been available 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 offers us all kinds of materials that stimulate my imagination to find ways to shape them as I see fit.”
Throughout his career, Philippe Scrive has developed a unique visual language, filled with raw, organic forms and a diverse array of creatures. His creatures—sometimes playful and mischievous, sometimes powerful and silent—seem imbued with a presence and reveal the personality of their creator, who, at 99 years old today, still embodies all these qualities! They invite the viewer’s gaze to move freely between abstraction and figuration.
Having participated on several occasions in the Salon de Mai and the Salon de La Jeune Sculpture, he has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the CRAC at the Château de Tremblay in 1996, at the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Meudon in 2002, and elsewhere. In 1972, he received the Prix de la Jeune Sculpture, and in 2008, the Institut de France Sculpture Prize for his entire body of work (at the same time that 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.
