Sculpture

“Sculpting comes naturally to me, it is a second nature”. One could say that Louis Stettner always sculpted. His deep interest in the shape of things and more particularly that of the human figure is present in all his work. In 1948, thanks to the G.I. Bill, the American financing program to train former soldiers, he took lessons in Paris from the famous sculptor, Ossip Zadkine at his atelier in the 6th arrondissement. However, it is at the end of the 1960s, once installed in his own studio, that Stettner was able, in parallel to photography, to devote himself fully to the activity of sculpture which was so essential to him. Then, mother goddesses, totemic figures and dancing men came to spring from the folds and convolutions of earth and bronze, cheerfully playing on the edge of grotesque and sublime.