Artists - Part 58

Jean Robert Ipousteguy

Jean Robert Ipousteguy (1920-2006) was a French sculptor.  His artwork combined the human figure with abstract elements.  Born Jean Robert, he later went by his mother's maiden name, Ipousteguy, since Robert is a common last name in France.

Above, Ipousteguy working on the sculpture Val de Grace, 1977.

Here is the finished sculpture Val de Grace.  Commissioned by the Val de Grace hospital in Paris, the hospital rejected it twice before accepting it.  Above, it is on display in Mainz, Germany, being looked at by the local bishop.  The statue has four arms, two of which end in tubes, and in the back it's shedding its skin like a snake.

Here is an earlier sculpture, L'Homme (Man), 1963.  The man has three legs.

No third leg jokes, please, but here's a closeup photo that someone took of the statue.

Homme Passant la Porte (Man Passing the Door), 1966, in Celle, Germany.  The man is passing through the door.

The rear view of Homme Passant la Porte shows Ipousteguy's style where parts of the body inside the skin are exposed.

Ecbatane, 1978, in front of the International Congress Center in Berlin, shows a robot-like Alexander the Great contemplating the city of Ecbatana, Persia, before he conquered and looted the city.

We end with Hydrorrhage, 1975.  The statue is part of a fountain in the Tino Rossi Gardens, a park in Paris.  The name seems to be a combination of hydro (water) and hemorrhage.  

Ipousteguy was not gay, and he sculpted both male and female nude statues, but this statue is not just a male nude, it's erotic.  The figure is masturbating, and he's licking what looks like an egg, which one commentator suggested represents the head of a penis, but to me it suggests a testicle.

Originally, water shot out of his penis, then passed through the upward-curving pipe on the right side of the statue, which suggests a more abstract erect penis.  Park officials later rerouted the water to two inoffensive fountains on either side of the statue.  But the masturbating statue remains on view in a public park in Paris.