Sculpture By Charles Semser (1922–2011)

Born in Philadelphia in 1922, Charles Semser trained as a painter at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at the Barnes Foundation. In 1947, he married the opera singer Ethel Frey, with whom he settled in Paris two years later. He first worked in Ossip Zadkine’s studio before joining the CoBrA group.

In the early 1960s, he discovered cement and developed his own technique using colored reinforced cement, which enabled him to create monumental sculptures. Abandoning painting in 1964, he devoted himself to satirical and carnivalesque works in which he denounced, with humor and provocation, the foibles of society.

Among his major works are La Grande Échelle (1973), installed at the Plateau d’Assy in Haute-Savoie; public commissions such as a bus shelter in Saint-Martin-d’Hères and benches in Villepinte; as well as his famous Têtes plantées, which incorporate vegetation.

In the 1970s, Semser also explored sculptural furniture, with resin pieces such as Femme-table and the Barbe-Bleue armchairs, where satire finds its way even into the domestic sphere.

“I try to make people laugh and challenge conventional ideas. Because I don’t engage in celebration, satire comes naturally,” he said.