Beverly Pepper came to France in the late '40s to study with André Lhote and Fernand Léger at La Grande Chaumière in Paris. In 1952, however, she settled in Rome, where she now divides her time between Italy and the United States. In 1961, she chose to devote herself to sculpture, taking part in the "Ten Sculptors in the City" exhibition in Rome, which featured great artists such as Alexander Calder. Her first exhibition in New York marked the start of an important career, using different types of metal. All Beverly Pepper's works reaffirm with equal force the idea that her sculptures are completely integrated into their environment, as if they were part of the same life, the same organism.

 

At Saché, Beverly Pepper has produced a group of sculptures in Chauvigny stone, which respond to each other, their appearance being quite similar, even if individually they present a different treatment. This material has enabled the artist to combine geometric forms such as the triangle, a rational element in her work, with much more sensitive surface treatments, reintroducing an almost artisanal aspect.

 

Though imposing in scale, these sculptures inspire a monumental feeling simply by their presence. The bipartite structures of these sculptures are reminiscent of cliffs, whose rigid or grainy surfaces suggest the time inscribed in these blocks of stone. Indeed, the artist declares "what constitutes my sculptures and what they speak of above all is temporality".

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Photos : Guillaume Blanc