Germaine Richier 1902-1959
101.5 x 66 x 36 cm
Further images
Steeped in dynamic tension, L'Escrimeuse (The Fencer) captures the climactic instant before attack — a moment suspended between propulsion and poise. In this single figure, Germaine Richier distils the central concerns of her practice: the analytical study of the human body, the fusion of delicacy and force, and the paradox of movement held in stasis.
Unlike a fully equipped combatant, this fencer stands exposed, the body uncovered and alert. Only the faint suggestion of fencing attire anchors the figure in its sporting reality. The vulnerability of the nude form intensifies the sculpture’s psychological charge; tension gathers in the flexed legs and coiled torso, as if the body were bracing for a thrust. The pose is accurate and lifelike, yet it transcends description. Richier does not depict fencing as spectacle; rather, she uses it as a pretext for a concentrated study of balance, readiness, and contained energy.
In preparation for the work, Richier employed a female model of strong muscular definition and consulted a fencing master to ensure anatomical and technical precision. From this foundation of truth she proceeded toward expressive distortion. As Françoise Guiter observed, Richier did not seek to replicate a specific movement but to evoke it — to give the impression of a figure both immobile and about to stir. The sculpture embodies this duality. Its stance is steady, yet the modelling of flesh and surface introduces instability, as though nothing were entirely fixed.
The surface itself remains vital to the work’s effect. Richier’s handling preserves the tactile memory of clay, its ridges and irregularities retaining the imprint of the artist’s hand. Light catches on these uneven planes, animating the figure and reinforcing the sensation of vibration beneath the skin. The body seems at once solid and provisional — as though it might dissolve back into the elemental matter from which it was formed. In this way, the sculpture aligns humanity with the rawness of nature, suggesting both resilience and fragility.
Placed within the broader context of post-war European sculpture, L'Escrimeuse resonates with contemporaneous explorations of the solitary standing figure, notably in the work of Alberto Giacometti. Yet Richier’s fencer possesses a corporeal density distinct from Giacometti’s attenuated silhouettes. Where his figures verge on spectral dissolution, Richier’s retain muscular weight even as they hover on the brink of motion. The tension lies not in elongation but in compression — a body gathered into itself, poised at the threshold of action.
Created at a pivotal moment in Richier’s career, L'Escrimeuse anticipates her later investigations into metamorphosis and hybrid form. The sense of being “on the edge” — of movement, of transformation — becomes a leitmotif in her subsequent practice. Here, the edge is literal and psychological: the instant before attack, before release. In capturing that charged interval, Richier endows the figure with potentiality. The sculpture does not enact movement; it contains it, coiled and imminent, embodying the perpetual state of becoming that defines her oeuvre.
Provenance
Private collection (gifted to the owner in 1968)Private collection, UK
Exhibitions
Berne, Kunsthalle, Plastiken: Marino Marini, Germaine Richier, Fritz Wotruba - Zeichnungen: Rodin, Maillol, Despiau, 9 June - 8 July 1945, no. 28 (another from the edition exhibited).
Geneva, Galerie Georges Moos, Germaine Richier, 23 March - 11 April 1946, no. 1 (another from the edition exhibited).
Prague, Socharství Francie od Rodina k dnešku, 23 November - 19 November 1946, no. 63 (another from the edition exhibited).
Berlin, Ancien musée de l'Armée, La sculpture française de Rodin à nos jours, July - October 1947, no. 63 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated).
London, Anglo French Art Center, Sculptures of Germaine Richier, Engravings Studio of Roger Lacourière, 8-30 September 1947, no. 5 (another from the edition exhibited).
Bratislava, Sculptures françaises contemporaines en Tchécoslovaquie et en Allemagne 15 October - 15 November 1947 (and later travelled to Brno and Munich).
Venice, Transadriatica società di navigazione aerea, XXIV Biennale di Venezia, 20 May - 30 September 1948, no. 44 (another from the edition exhibited).
Zurich, Kunsthaus Zurich, Germaine Richier, 12 June - 21 July 1963, no. 12 (illustrated pl. 1).
Arles, Musée Réattu, Germaine Richier, 7 July - 30 September 1964, no. 5 (another from the edition exhibited).
Paris, Galerie Creuzevault, Germaine Richier - dessins, gravures, livres, sculptures, pièces uniques, oeuvres inconnues, 4 December 1964 - 31 January 1965 (another from the edition exhibited).
Annecy, Château des Ducs de Nemours, Germaine Richier 1967 (another from the edition exhibited).
Paris, Galerie Hervé Odermatt, Hommage à Germaine Richier, 3-31 October 1973, no. 1 (another from the edition exhibited).
London, Gimpel Fils Gallery, Germaine Richier, 26 June - August 1973, no. 2 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated).
Takatsuki, Seibu Takatsuki Shopping Center, Masters of Modern Sculpture, 29 September - 10 October 1973, no. 76 (another form the edition exhibited; illustrated).
Tokyo, Contemporary Sculpture Center, Richier, 6 September - 18 September 1976, no. 3 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated) (and later travelled to Osaka, Contemporary Sculpture Center).
Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, Fondation de Coubertin, Jeunesse et sports - Sculptures, dessins, médailles, June - October 1977, no. 73 (another from the edition exhibited).
Paris, Galerie Beaubourg, Germaine Richier, 28 April - 15 June 1984 (another from the edition exhibited).
Paris, Galerie Artcurial - Centre d'art plastique contemporain, Le Belvédère de Mandiargues - André Pieyre de Mandiargues et l'art du XX siècle, 9 May - 13 July 1990 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated).
Paris, Galerie Artcurial - Centre d'art plastique contemporain, Consonances, 4 February - 13 March 1993 (anther from the edition exhibited).
L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, hôtel Campredon, Un parcous d'art contemporain, 19 June - 17 October 1993 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated).
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Germaine Richier, 5 April - 30 September 1996, no. 10 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated p. 41).
Berlin, Akademie der Künste, Germaine Richier, 7 September - 2 November 1997, no. 13 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated p. 103).
Paris, Galerie Marion Meyer, Ultra Violet, Arp, Calder, Duchamp, Picasso, Richier, Giacometti, November 1997 (another from the edition exhibited).
Luxembourg, Galerie l'Indépendance, Hommage à Germaine Richier, 25 June - 15 August 2001 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated).
Montpellier, Musée Fabre, Découvrir, collections du musée Fabre - salle Germaine Richier, 4 November 2005 - 7 May 2006 (another from the edition exhibited).
Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Richier, 28 October - 5 February 2007 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated pp. 32, 62 and 63).
Bremen, Gerhard Marcks Haus, Germaine Richier - Allien das Menschliche zählt, 25 November 2007 - 17 February 2008 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated p.7).
New York, Dominique Lévy Gallery, Germaine Richier - Sculptures 1934-1959, 27 February - 12 April 2014 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated) (and later travelled to New York, Perrotin Gallery).
Paris, Musée National d'Art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Germaine Richier, 1 March - 12 June 2023 (another from the edition exhibited).
Montpellier, Musée Fabre, Germaine Richier, Une rétrospective, 12 July - 5 November 2023 (another from the edition exhibited; illustrated p. 102-103).Literature
H. Creuzevault (ed.), Germaine Richier 1904-1959, Paris, 1966 (another from the edition illustrated n.p.).E. Crispolti, 'Germaine Richier' in The Masters of Sculpture, Milan, 1968, no. 65 (another from the edition illustrated pp. 50 and 52).
F. Guiter & S. Guiter (ed.), Germaine Richier: Life and Work. Catalogue Raisonné – Vol. I, 1916-1946, Milan, 2024, no. 85 (another from the edition illustrated pp. 417 and 419).