L’Île-d’Yeu — Marine de Soos sculpts scenes of life

Marine de Soos is inspired by both Africa and the Orient.

Bronze figures, kneaded with simplicity, have filled the Maison des Quais with life, emerging from the hands of Marine de Soos. They are on view until Sunday. In their youthful bodies bathed in nudity, the mixed bloodlines of Africa and the Orient come together. In contemplation, or with muscles tensed in action, they form the flesh of a barefoot humanity that merges with nature. Fishermen, monks, and ordinary people radiate the world that sustains them. Around them, they summon the elements: fish-filled water with silvery reflections, the burning sand of a sacred land, or the wind that carries kites into the immensity of the sky.

“I seek to transcribe life. I capture fleeting instants, moments of grace that have moved me. My sculptures extend their emotion and movement,” confides Marine de Soos. By arresting time in scenes of everyday life, the artist restores their intensity.

Her figurines are imbued with an interiority so powerful that a change of scale occurs: they attain the dimension of human beings. Beings present in the world, moving toward themselves, with dance-like steps—elegant, serene.

Until Sunday, August 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Maison des Quais, 11 rue des Quais. Free admission.