GEORGE (George Peltre) is a French sculptor, four of whose works belong to France’s cultural heritage; listed on Artprice and Akoun, she works bronze and steel — modelling, lost-wax casting, chasing — giving form to female figures in metamorphosis, between flesh and foliage.
Portrait
Born in Toulon in 1966, GEORGE lives and works in Tourrettes-sur-Loup, on the French Riviera. A graduate of the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Lyon (D.N.S.E.P. in Art and Communication, with the Jury’s Highest Honours), she conceived her path as a research laboratory, deliberately open to contemporary creation.
Before devoting herself entirely to sculpture, she explored photography, video and 2D and 3D computer-generated imagery. In 2003, she chose metal. Her training continued with working stays in Spain (Eibar) and Italy (Turin and above all Pietrasanta, the world capital of sculpture since Michelangelo), where her bronzes are now cast at the prestigious Massimo Del Chiaro foundry — the foundry of Botero, Mitoraj and Folon.
The artist as bronze founder
Bronze is never sculpted: it is conquered. GEORGE first models the form in clay or wax; the metal is then cast by the lost-wax technique, chased and patinated. She belongs to a rare lineage — that of artists who carry out this entire journey themselves, from the first gesture to the finished work. Lace cast in metal, bark becoming flesh, a patina that captures the light: nothing is delegated. Her practice reaches beyond bronze alone: mixed media and every medium (ceramic, porcelain, steel), monumental installations in public space, collaborative and participatory projects.
A pioneering path, from digital art to sculpture
Her first exhibition took place in 1991 at the Espace Lyonnais d’Art Contemporain (ELAC); as early as 1992, her work was shown at documenta IX in Kassel — with the Venice Biennale, the most important contemporary art exhibition in the world. There she took part in “Piazza Virtuale”, a virtual public square, where she presented her first auction of 3D computer-generated objects. In 1993–1994, her composite-image tales were selected for the European Computer Graphics Festival in Montreuil (FEIM) and by Apple Computer, Inc.; the pilot of “Ravenala” won an award at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. In 1996, she worked as an artistic director in Lyon. From this dual culture — computer imagery and the artisan’s gesture — springs the singularity of her sculpted work.
A universe: woman in metamorphosis
At the heart of the œuvre stand the Vegetal Women — tree-women, bark-women, nymphs caught at the very instant of their transformation. As the art critic Ileana Cornea wrote in 2008: “Bronzes patinated in brown, gilded burns, phantasmatic apparitions, half woman half branches: George’s sculptures appear to us as if in a dream. One thinks of the work of Leonor Fini, or of Manina.” Around them gravitate the monumental sculptures, the steel cut-outs, the Doodles — unique bronzes created in 2013 for the centenary of Marcel Duchamp’s first ready-made, under the title “Ready-Made Myself” — and the Unfinished Colourings.
Works in France’s cultural heritage
Habéas (bronze and brass, 2.70 m, acquired by the French State in 2013) — Place de la Libération, Tourrettes-sur-Loup; featured in Pokémon GO since 2016.
Mon École maternelle (painted cut-steel fresco, 11 × 6.5 m, 2017).
École Jean Ordan (three powder-coated cut-steel works, 2017).
Rêveur (painted steel, 6.5 m, acquired by the French State in 2019) — La Colle-sur-Loup.
Awards and distinctions
1992 — D.N.S.E.P., Beaux-Arts de Lyon, with the Jury’s Highest Honours
2008 — Sculpture Prize, Salon d’Hiver, Hivernal de Lyon
2008 — Lions International Prize, Annecy District
2013 — Grand Prix International d’Arts Plastiques, Akashi (Japan)
2013 — Fine Art Prize, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
2014 — Medal of the Académie des Arts, Sciences et Lettres, “Rayonnements des Arts”, Paris
Listed on Artprice and Akoun, referenced in the Wikimonde encyclopaedia.
International exhibitions, fairs and biennales
1992 — documenta IX, Kassel (Germany)
China — Wangraib Gallery, Xiamen; Shanghai International
United Arab Emirates — World Art Dubai
Italy — Arte in Piazza, Cuneo
Belgium — Art3F, Brussels
Monaco — “C’est dans l’air”
Paris — Carrousel du Louvre, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts
2014 — Lyon Biennale
Art Up!, Lille (2017 and 2023) · Art Fair Antibes
In her words
“Sculpting expresses rare, fleeting moments of grace, when one is miraculously attuned to the world.”
“In the dew of this world, I rehearse Paradise.”