The author of
Les Misérables
,
Orientales
and
Notre-Dame de Paris
took on colors under the sun of Besançon.
The municipality unveiled Friday the restored version of the statue of Victor Hugo, a work of the Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow installed in 2003 on the Esplanade of human rights.
Cleaned of its patina, the sculpture of the child of the country now shines with a renewed brilliance.
Some doubts about the tone of the colors used for this second youth, however, caused reactions even in the entourage of the sculptor, who died in 2016.
“The original face was flesh-colored. It looks like a black Victor Hugo, which was never Ousmane's intention"
, was surprised Béatrice Soulé, the sculptor's widow interviewed by
L'Est Républicain
, reacting to the new appearance of the statue. by Victor Hugo.
Mentioning not having been contacted by the City of Besançon about the restoration, Béatrice Soulé also pointed out that apart from her complexion, a white collar of the statue
"was much more subtle in the original work"
.
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earth color
The former mayor of Besançon Jean-Louis Fousseret (LREM), present alongside the artist at the inauguration of the statue in October 2003, was also moved by the new appearance of the work, which he considers not faithful to its original state.
“Ousmane Sow, who was one of the great encounters of my life, wanted this Victor Hugo, as he was when he was inaugurated.
And the color was quite different from what we see now
, ”he told our colleagues.
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The restoration of the statue of Victor Hugo was entrusted to a skater from the Coubertin foundry, a former collaborator of Ousmane Sow.
In a press release, the City of Besançon evokes the desire to
“get closer to the original spirit”
of the work of the Senegalese sculptor,
“who loved colors and who was not favorable to “simple” bronzes”.
A laudable step, despite the lackluster result, said Béatrice Soulé, heiress with her children of the intellectual property of Ousmane Sow.
Known for his sculptures of human figures, Ousmane Sow created his works from an iron structure that he covered with burlap and on which he shaped his subjects with a mixture of earth, straw and sand.
"I like a work of art to be open, to accept different interpretations from the public, aggressive for some, peaceful for others"
, he told
Le Figaro
, in an interview published at the time of his historic entry into the Academy of Fine Arts, the first by an African artist, in 2013.
