This Europe: French rugby hero Rives joins Rodin as sculptor on the Rive Gauche
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Your support makes all the difference.If one or two of the monumental steel sculptures decorating the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris this month bring to mind a collapsed rugby scrum, there is a simple explanation.
The sculptures, made from twisted steel girders, are the work of one of the most celebrated French rugby players of recent times, Jean-Pierre Rives, who is making a successful second career as an artist.
M. Rives, 50 this month, is the first sculptor to be invited to show his work in the gardens on the left bank of the Seine since the most famous of all French sculptors, Auguste Rodin. The eight pieces, one of which weighs three tonnes, will be on display in the gardens, in front of the Palais du Luxembourg, until 15 December.
As a rugby player, Jean-Pierre Rives was a dashing flanker with a mane of blonde hair who captained France to a Grand Slam-winning victory against England at Twickenham in March 1981. He was also the captain of the first France XV to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand, in July 1979.
Since his retirement, he has become a businessman and occasional television presenter. He is also a co-president of the French bid to host the rugby World Cup in 2007. M. Rives has had invitations to show his work in Barcelona, Milan and New York.
"I create to come to terms with myself," he said. "It helps me to accept who I am because some days I can't stand myself. By sculpting, I feel less idiotic, less bad than I really am."
M. Rives bends and wrestles with steel girders until he finds shapes which please him. "I try to turn brute matter into something ethereal," he said, "to take vulgar objects and make them poetic."
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