Ipoustéguy -Chirurgie

In the various histories of art he appears once and for all as a sculptor. We are all familiar with is large bronzes, his marble sculptures, Les Amants (The lovers), La Mort du père (The father’s death, and more recently his statue of Rimbaud in Paris. Therefore the author’s curiosity was awakened by a phone call from the Lorraine region in the winter of 2004 when she was invited to "Come take a look at what I found again". Ipoustéguy himself at the other end. Boxes that had been closed decades ago let out paintings brimming with matter, with relief-but paintings just the same. This is an archeological document, the proof of a brief season in 1967-1968 which Ipoustéguy spent in the workshop of his friend Sam Szafran. What are the themes? His loved ones, current events (the death of Pope John XXIII, the Vietnam war), women. They were all painted directly with the tube the artist applied brutally on the canvas. One feels that even in 2D he needs to measure himself physically to his creations. Ipoustéguy showed the paintings to a person he knew, who did not care for them. He dropped painting as quickly as he had picked it up and returned to sculpture. The author made an appointment with Ipoustéguy for 11 February 2006 to show him his text. But the latter, in a final bow, died on the 8th. Now it is sure we will know nothing more about this brief pictorial fever. Yet one question remains: will the public be able to see these paintings one day?

•  Ipoustéguy-Surgery by Françoise Monnin, published by La Différence, 2006, 20€.