This monumental fountain-sculpture was commissioned by Prince Rainier III and officially unveiled in 1970 on the Place des Moulins. The work is an array of tubular elements placed at angles on a circular plinth forming the base and the lighting system. The water flows from the tubes along metallic c...
This monumental fountain-sculpture was commissioned by Prince Rainier III and officially unveiled in 1970 on the Place des Moulins. The work is an array of tubular elements placed at angles on a circular plinth forming the base and the lighting system. The water flows from the tubes along metallic chains. The fountain is set in an alcove lined with ceramic tiles varnished in orange and red hues. Every one of Guy Lartigue’s sculptures is a world of its own, and when set in motion, the static creation is transformed into vital energy, restoring life to the previously petrified work. The artist has always refused to allow his works to be displayed in museums. “I prefer them to be under the sun and the rain in towns and cities, alongside the people every day”.
Born on 6 April 1927 in Paris, Guy Lartigue was the son of Maurice Lartigue, also known as Zissou, the elder brother of the photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue. He was a pupil of Jean Souverbie, Emmanuel Auricoste, and Ossip Zadkine. After studying sculpture at the Académies de Montparnasse in Paris, Guy Lartigue produced a number of monumental pieces in France, working with metal, copper, stainless steel, or granite. Lartigue used sheet metal, which he folded and bent into the desired shape. His sculptures often refer to the human body. He also created numerous decorative pieces, fountains and bas-reliefs, which he incorporated into architecture. He defined himself as a statuary sculptor in love with the “song of water”. In the hundred or so sculpture-fountains he produced, water is treated like any other material. In the 1960s, he was commissioned to make a sculpture-fountain for the residence of the King of Spain in Marseille. The meeting with sculpture and water proved a pivotal moment, and he continued to express his art through them constantly. He created numerous sculptural artworks, many of them monumental pieces, devoting his life to art and water. From Paris to Monte-Carlo, he designed sculpture-fountains for squares, gardens, and the great ensembles of the 1970s. He died in 2021
