"There is so much beauty in the body"

Tuesday 17 December 2019

After years enhancing body's beauty through fabric and careful designs in the 80's, three-time winner of the British Fashion Award for Best Contemporary Designer, Nicole Farhi, left fashion behind to focus on sculpture.

A selection of her latest series of works that celebrates the female body are now on display at CCA Galleries International in Jersey until the end of January, as part of an exhibition titled 'Life and Limb' by her husband David Hare.

Having now left fashion behind for several years, Nicole says she would never go back. “I turned that page for good,” she says. “I have a freedom now that I never had before.”

Pictured: Nicole was inspired to pursue sculpture by Scottish sculptor and artist Eduardo Paolozzi.

Nicole was first drawn to sculpting after seeing work from Alberto Giacometti in Saint-Paul de Vence, a small village not far from her birthplace, Nice.

However, it is Scottish sculptor and artist, Eduardo Paolozzi, considered as one of the pioneers of pop art, who triggered her full-scale pursuit of sculpture. They met during the mid 1980s at the Royal College of Art’s foundry on Queen’s Gate where Nicole had gone to cast her first sculpture in bronze and Paolozzi became not only a friend but also a mentor. 

“I was very lucky to have met Paolo,” Nicole says. “I made a portrait of him to show how important he has been and still is. I still think of him a lot. He was a man who worked nonstop. He did not know what it meant to go on a holiday. He never, ever stopped.”

Pictured: Nicole wanted to explore the human figure and its folds with her latest series of work.

His dedication to work, Paolo passed it on to her, Nicole says. “I work every day,” she explains. “Paolo loved working. He was a wonderful example.” 

Over the past two years, Nicole has been working on ‘Folds’ a series which explores the beauty of the human figure, focusing on the shapes and curves formed by folds of flesh on parts of the female body. Sasha Gibb, Director of CCA Galleries International, has selected some of them to go on display until the end of January.

“I have sculpted for many years always around the face, the hands, the body seems to be my subject, especially the woman body,” Nicole explained. “I wanted to explore the human figure, all the folds, especially on large women, and show the beauty of it.”

Pictured: Sue Tilley, former muse of Lucian Freud and Paola Barone posed for Nicole for the series.

For the series, Nicole worked with two friends, Sue Tilley, former muse of Lucian Freud and Paola Barone. “It was a long process,” Nicole said, explaining she started with photographs of the models, before producing little maquettes in clay. She picked parts of the body that show the most folds and casted them on the model before sending the casts to the foundry. 

The result is a series of sculptures in jesmonite, bronze and even glass that show here a leg, here a hip, here a breast, revealing delicate details of the model’s skin, including in some cases the goosebumps caused by Nicole’s chilly studio.

“I like working on fragments to make the viewer concentrate on the part you want them to concentrate,” Nicole explained. “If you do a full body they won’t zoom on what I want. I zoom myself to say ‘look at that part.’”

Pictured: Each piece in the series is named after a Greek goddess, here Demeter, Goddess of the harvest.

While the exhibition is titled ‘Life and Limb’ – a name picked by Nicole’s husband, playwright David Hare - each piece is named after a Greek goddess, Gaia, Juno, Cybele, Demeter or even Venus. “The name came slowly into me,” Nicole said.

“They reminded me of Greek fragments of gods and goddesses. The first one was a breast, this is really about the beginning of humanity, so I named it Gaia after the goddess of the earth. It was quite a revelation to find that, without thinking, I had produced something that the Greek had done many centuries ago.”

Pictured: 'Life and Limb' can be seen at CCA Galleries until the end of January.

Commenting on how the series was received, Nicole says men were more reluctant than women to buy the work. “Sue and the other women were really impressed to see the result,” Nicole said.

“They found the body very beautiful, very sensual, very sexy. It made them see themselves differently. Women can see beauty in another woman’s body, we just see shapes and beauty everywhere!”