Erika Dagadoway - Le Nantec - 2001

Le Nantec, by Erika Dagadoway

This work traces the entire creative journey of the artist, from his autodidactic beginnings in the 1950s to his contemporary production, covering the major series that punctuate his oeuvre: the female figures in bronze and polybronze, the Ptah series — a decade of abstractions to which he devoted ten years of research — and the limited-edition printings that earned him international diffusion at major art fairs in Frankfurt, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai. The book naturally dwells on the central dimension of his entire body of work — the sculpted female nude — which the artist has developed for more than forty years in a variety of materials: resin loaded with bronze shot known as polybronze, patinated bronze cast in his own foundry located in Thailand near Ayutthaya, resin compositions. The editions are sometimes signed with the artist’s grandmother’s name, Francine Gaumondy, a pseudonym he uses for certain series. The monograph constitutes the most comprehensive synthesis document available in French on a sculptor whose fame is both international — particularly strong in Asia, where he has lived for extended periods in Macao — and French.

Jacques Le Nantec, pseudonym of Jacques Métayer, born December 28, 1940 in Nantes, is a French sculptor. At thirteen, he repaired a broken statuette and discovered a passion for sculpture. Using clay for pottery, he taught himself sculpture in a small space lent by the Maison des Jeunes. In October 1957, the Peuple et Culture gallery in Annecy exhibited his first fifteen works. His father, being transferred to Paris, allowed Jacques to attend the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, in the architecture section. After performing his military service in Algeria, he returned in 1962 and worked successively as a decorator, comic-book artist for Spirou, and mold-maker of wax figures. In 1974, his polybronze collections were launched for direct sale. In 1974, he married Armelle Le Caruyer de Lainsecq, and the couple moved in 1983 to Macao, where they established their factory. They participated in numerous international trade shows. Le Nantec returned to France in 1993 and stayed there eight years, making trips between Paris, Macao, and Thailand. In 2001, he again settled in Macao. Discovering the rocks of Coloane Island in 2005, the artist envisions himself in a universe of inhabited meteorites.

Le Léopard d'or Editions, Paris, 2001, weight 505 grams. 25 x 33 cm, 144 pages, hardcover, richly illustrated with color reproductions of the artist’s works. ISBN 978-2-86377-159-4.