Robert Roussil

Roussil, Robert
Robert Roussil, sculptor (b at Montréal 1925). He studied fine arts with the Association artistique of Montréal, and from 1958 to 1978 lived in Tourettes-sur-Loup, France. In 1952 he suggested the idea of international sculpture symposia in Vienna. Thus, in the early 1960s, he participated in international sculpture symposia, such as those in Yugoslavia and Montréal. Roussil's sculptures, both gigantic and miniature, express a fundamental and consistent theme: life regenerating in joy, sensuality, eroticism and love; and his principal subjects are man and bird. He uses the intrinsic structural qualities of his materials (iron, cast-iron, gold, copper, stone, clay, wood) to produce works ranging from representational allusion to abstraction (Couple réuni, limestone, no date). In 1983 he won a law suit against the city of Montréal for destroying 4 of his sculptures. His work is characterized by slender forms and solid mass, curved edges and conical surfaces, holes and rings.

In the 1980s and 1990s, using these shapes, Roussil became involved in the monumental aspects of his sculpture, creating what is known as "lieux" ("areas") in public parks and gardens in France. He has also begun to integrate monumental works inside and outside public buildings here in Canada and in Europe, mainly in France. Robert Roussil has been living in Tourettes-sur-Loup, near Vence, France, since the late 1950s.

Author LOUISE BEAUDRY