After a brilliant start to his career in Paris during the Occupation, the Jewish artist Ossip Zadkine was forced to flee to New York. It was at this time he made this portrait of François Mauriac from a photograph. In a letter dated 1949, Zadkine explained his actions to the writer: “Would you believe it if I told you that modelling your bust […] was for me, an attempt at calming my homesickness. When I was relegated and uprooted to the United States, I held on to my most beautiful memories and my admirations”.
With this cubist interpretation, the artist has successfully captured the writer’s physical and intellectual presence, subtly evoking Mauriac’s introverted and sharp personality in the way the hands are folded. Concerned with composition, the sculptor organized the volumes to create a multitude of viewpoints, whilst at the same time retaining readability for the spectator. Zadkine gave the writer the original plaster cast of his portrait as a gift. You can admire another bronze version of this bust in the public gardens here in Bordeaux.