Antique Plaster Bust, Workshop Bust: Roger Bésus, Late 20th Century, Rouen School, Sculpture By Bésus

Antique studio bust by Roger Besus. Plaster cast, 53 cm high by 39 cm wide. In good condition, with a few minor chips. Signed and dated 1983. On display in the shop. Find us at antiquites-monfuturanterieur.fr and on Instagram @mon_futur_anterieur. Invoice available upon request. About: Roger Bésus, born in Bayeux on January 18, 1915, and died in Rouen on February 17, 1994, was a French writer and sculptor. Roger Bésus spent his childhood and adolescence in Le Havre. In addition to his professional activity as a civil engineer, he first pursued novel writing, then sculpture. From 1947 to 1971, he published eighteen novels. His novels have been compared by Albert Béguin to those of Georges Bernanos. Like Faulkner or Balzac, he aspired to depict a total society. In 1977, Roger Bésus ceased publishing and discovered a second vocation to which he devoted himself with the same seriousness and fervor, while continuing to keep his journal regularly. It was a new life. Already, in April 1975, he wrote: "My passion for sculpture is growing to an unimaginable degree." “I feel like a sculptor…” He immediately embarked on the path of figurative sculpture, which had fallen out of favor in favor of the compressions of a César Baldaccini or the accumulations of an Arman—in short, what he called “anti-sculpture,” adding that “deep down, one can’t help but think that what we create today isn’t about comparing it to what is being created around us at that very moment, but about placing it within the lineage of works from all eras.” In his house in Bierville, part of which he converted into a studio, “he entered into sculpture, embarking on this new career as if he had eternity at his disposal,” wrote his friend and literary executor, Evelyne Le Corronc. “His sensitivity as a writer,” noted art critic André Ruellan after his death, “was transferred to the busts and bodies of which he…” He captured the expressions and expressed their beauty without regard for fashions or trends, but with the honesty of a good and intelligent man.” Roger Bésus died in Rouen on February 17, 1994. On his grave, in the Western Cemetery in Bayeux, his self-portrait and the work he had titled She Who Cannot Forget were placed, at his request.