Terracotta sculpture by Damien HERMELLIN: male torso
Original work, unique piece
Height: 40 cm
Visible in Montauban by appointment only

In 1962, Damien Hermellin moved to Paris, diligently attending ballet and jazz dance classes. He observes dancers during rehearsals and creates drawings, paintings, and bronze sculptures with a brown patina for the Dance School of the Opera National de Paris. "I am a sculptor who draws; I study movement, I am fascinated by dance. I have created many costumes for large performances. I am 76 years old, and I chose to settle in Montauban. I spent 50 years in Paris; I was fed up. 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 begins with a hanging. The sculptor erects a small gallows to which the figurine to be born will hang, as if the future lightness, the rise 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."