Seated amid six seats symbolizing all the continents, a black woman holding an olive branch and a golden flame: the sculpture designed by American artist Alison Saar for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Paralympics invites reflection.
Installed at the foot of the Champs-Elysรฉes
Inaugurated in the Charles-Aznavour garden, this “multicultural” work of art, in the words of the Californian artist, has been installed at the foot of the Champs-Elysรฉes in Paris, 33 days ahead of the opening ceremony of the sporting mecca.
This was an opportunity for the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, to congratulate himself on the “preparations”, which he said were “going very, very well”. “Enthusiasm rises when you walk around Paris,” assured the head of the Olympic movement at a press conference. “The Olympic venues are coming into view, you see the flags, you see the people at the Trocadero rejoicing over the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower,” he added.
The work by Alison Saar, 68, entitled “Salon”, is intended as a “space open to all, which encourages dialogue and allows encounters”, according to the artist. The statue comprises several elements, all made by the artist in workshops in the Puy-de-Dรดme region of central France.
A sculpture from 4 continents
Composed of bronze and volcanic rock that resists weathering and environmental pollutants, the work comprises a large seated female figure holding olive branches in one hand and a golden flame in the other, and six seats, arranged in a circle 5 m 40 in diameter, from West Africa, Central America, France, China and Europe. One of them is also an antique seat, symbolizing the origins of the Olympic Games. At the center of the circle are the Olympic years, inlaid into the ground.
“Salon is an invitation to dialogue, to exchange, to meet and to share,” says Thomas Bach in his speech, calling for a celebration of “the unity of all humanity in our diversity”. “This is what the Olympic Games are all about: bringing together the different cultures of the world in peaceful competition and dialogue,” he added to the press.
Alison Saar, committed to humanist values
Is there a political message addressed to France in the context of the early parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7? “I’m not a French citizen, I don’t have the right to vote,” sweeps aside Thomas Bach.
Little known in France, Alison Saar was chosen by the International Olympic Committee and the City of Paris “for her commitment to the humanist and peace-loving values of Olympism” and “her desire to have local production in order to support French craftsmanship and reduce the carbon footprint”, according to the press kit.
A work from recycled and natural materials
For the past 40 years, her work has focused on black female identity. “I’m of mixed race myself, so the majority of my work focuses on my African ancestry”, explained the artist on Sunday, who wanted to “break with the image of the standard white man found in most monuments and sculptures”.
Her sculptures and installations, made from reclaimed and natural materials, incorporate elements from various African, African-American and Caribbean cultural traditions. Among her most famous works is a sculpture of Harriet Tubman, former slave and anti-slavery activist, the first monument (2008) to a black woman in New York.
Sculpture for Paris 2024, a first project in the public space
In the United States, her work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum in New York, and at Lacma in Los Angeles.
Born on February 5, 1956 in Los Angeles, the artist comes from a family of artists, her mother Betye Saar being known for her assemblages dealing with racial and sexist issues, and her father Richard Saar, of German origin, as a ceramist and art restorer.
The Olympic sculpture created for Paris-2024 is her first project in public space outside the United States. Alison Saar succeeds French artist Xavier Veilhan, who created a series of sculptures entitled “The Audience” for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.