Extracts from texts by writers and critics
| Georges
OUDOT Extracts from texts by writers and critics |
|
Georges OUDOT is considered one of the greatest figurative sculptors of our time.
Georges OUDOT belongs
to that group of plastic artists who, in the tradition of Rude and
Barye, then Rodin,
Malliol and Gimond, currently ensure the independence of French
sculpture by setting
it free from technical hysteria and academicism, even by any other
name.
In each of his works, OUDOT reveals himself as the practitioner concerned
to bring back to sculpture
a "physically tangible" interplay of rhythm and harmony, and,
as it develops into the
surrounding space, to provide an impression of real life and movement
through the expressiveness
of its form. The life of the picture always relates to the life of the
object.
This is sculpture which is first and foremost essentially plastic, not
mere indulgence for the somewhat
perturbing importance of a purely intellectual interpretation.
And then it speaks of human expression: self-sacrifice, the freshness
of emotion and permanent
collusion between creatures and things.
It is not impossible that it is to the daily practice of drawing that
Georges OUDOT, creator of
black and white works which rank among the most original sculptures of
the 20th century,
owes the authority of his realism, which governs the senses so powerfully,
and gradually
leads it on towards a personal type of beauty....
Paris, April 1956, George BESSON
A sculptor of the future:
Georges OUDOT
OUDOT soon disengaged himself from all formalism and made the discovery that
each shape requires
to have its character differentiated from that of others.
Immense
nudes in red chalk, charcoal or ink wash mixed with pencil impose their
majestic grandeur
and style.
In the landscapes, the vitality of foregrounds and backgrounds and of
light unfolds with particular
intensity.
Le Figaro Littéraire, 28 April, 1956, Claude-Roger MARX
Georges OUDOT creates beauty, and the present world needs beauty. I admire the artistry in his sculpture because it fits well with the world of movement and dynamism. OUDOT is an artistic democrat. Truth is the art of the people, who are always good judges.
Edgar FAURE, of
the Académie Française
With OUDOT, a powerful lyricism breathes life into the classicism of his expression.
Le Monde, 12 February 1971
Much more than to uniqueness, he aspires to authenticity which is a much less banal virtue. He was able to find real courage and develop its potential to the fullest extent, to play the game without resorting to any special effects, even though that might confuse M. Homais who nowadays trusts nothing unless it is contrived extravagance.
1961, Marcel GIMOND
Georges OUDOT's sculptures and drawings demonstrate that, whilst remaining faithfully attached to a tradition which goes back as far as Cherchell's ancient Venus, just like Malliol, you can still give a personal interpretation to the celebration of beauties who have not exhausted their power to delight both sensitivity and thought; his vast, erotic nudes, remarkable for their harmonious fullness of shape, go beyond and above realism.
Nouvelles Littéraires, 24 June 1959, Maximilien GAUTHIER
His figurative
works, with their ample, energetic proportions, are stamped with
a powerful
lyricism.
Pierre CABANE, Dictionnaire des Arts Bordas
...unchanging but not
lifeless bodies, fragments of life but not decaying objects. Each page is
at once mobile and static, and, like this artist's pictures, gives the impression
of being pushed to its very conclusion, but at the same time having lost nothing
of what is thrilling in this work being accomplished, despite the rigorous
nature of the process.
Georges OUDOT is at the stage at which the certainties of a craft are such
that the artist gains the greatest freedom therefrom, even when he appears
to retain a somewhat austere approach.
Le Figaro, 25 June 1970, Raymond COGNAT
