Prométhée

This sculpture by Gustave Pimienta, produced in 1962, seeks to capture the violence of the struggle between Earth and the heavens, the thief of fire and the eagle of Olympus. The son of a titan, Prometheus stole the sacred fire from Zeus (his cousin) to give to humanity. His bold act of defiance drew the wrath of the king of the Olympian gods. To punish him, he chained Prometheus to a rock atop the Caucasus mountains and ordered an eagle to devour his liver every day, over and over, with his liver growing back each time. The ordeal only ended when Heracles killed the eagle, releasing Prometheus from his daily torture.

Gustave Pimienta was a French sculptor. He was born in 1888 in Paris, and died in 1982, in Chênehutte-Trèves-Cunault in Maine-et-Loire. A precocious child with a real talent for sculpture, he entered a competition at the Petit Palais for child painters and sculptors, where he won the first prize. He studied at the Académie Julian, before entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Aged 15, he exhibited at the Salon des artistes français, a major Parisian art exhibition held annually. The press described him as a child prodigy. He was appointed a member of the Salon d’Automne, another prestigious exhibition in Paris, and sat on the jury at the age of just 17. He then exhibited annually at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Salon d’Automne. In the interwar period, he produced numerous busts in bronze, plaster, or terracotta. In 1939, he opened a workshop near Saumur, far from the tumult of Paris. His sculptures show great sensitivity, with minimalistic lines giving purity to bodies and faces.
Most of his work consists of busts, especially of children, but he also ventured into monumental sculpture and the study of movement, as can be seen in Sainte Thérèse, Orphée and Prométhée. He worked until 1970. His workshop, bequeathed by the Marquis de Narros, came into the ownership of the Institut de France in 1982 and was made available to artists. His works are displayed in French museums such as the Museums of Fine Art in Bordeaux, Agen, and Strasbourg, as well as in the National Gallery in Washington and at the MoMa.