Philippe Faraut, 1963-present
The Art Critic, by Philippe Faraut (2008)
It would be hard to imagine two sculptures farther apart than de Weldon’s Iwo Jima — a monumental, public tribute to the American will to victory in the Second World War, created in bronze and based on a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of the event — and Faraut’s The Art Critic: a small, private satirical sketch of an art critic’s petty arrogance, crafted in clay. Like some of Daumier’s satirical sculptures, The Art Critic tells us the story, not (necessarily) of a particular critic, but of a type.
A pair of satirical sculptures by Daumier
Video of Philippe Faraut sculpting The Art Critic
“Little does the critic think... how many honest minds he debars from pleasure, by exciting an artificial fastidiousness, and making them too wise to concur with their own sensations.” — Samuel Johnson
