Bronze sculpture with a brown patina by Damien HERMELLIN: reclining male nude
Original work limited to 2 copies
Dimensions (wooden base): 17 cm x 52 cm
Clementi Foundry
Visible in Montauban by appointment only

In 1962, Damien Hermellin moved to Paris and regularly attended classical and jazz dance classes. He observed the dancers during rehearsals and created drawings, paintings, and bronze sculptures with brown patina for the Dance School of the National Opera of Paris. “I am a sculptor who draws; I study movement, I am fascinated by dance. I have created numerous costumes for large performances. I am 76 years old and have chosen to settle in Montauban. I spent 50 years in Paris; I was tired of it. I have fond memories of Montauban in the 80s thanks to the dance festival created by Alain Marty. Then I became friends with François-Henri Soulié. He made me love and discover the city.” François-Henri speaks of Hermellin's work: “It starts with a hanging. The sculptor sets up a small gallows to which the figurine to be born will hang, as if the future lightness, the ascent of the forthcoming character, should not spring from the ground, but rather give the impression of descending from the sky. Hermellin's bronze dancers seem to come from the invisible to suddenly appear in the metal that reveals them.”