Disappearance of Sacha Sosno. His life, his works in Nice

Hervé Caël, a great art enthusiast and author of “Nice Art, Nice, an Open-Air Contemporary Art Museum,” reflects on the journey and memory of the artist.

Hervé Caël: “While preparing my book ‘Nice Art, Nice, an Open-Air Contemporary Art Museum’, I had the honor to meet Sacha SOSNO in his studio on the hill of Bellet. Over the years his works have shaped the urban landscape of our city. I recall these two responses: ‘I try to compel you to imagine’, ‘I only do 50% of the work, others must finish creating the sculpture.’”

Alexandre Joseph SOSNOWSKY, better known as Sacha SOSNO, was born in Marseille in 1937. His mother is from Nice, and his father hails from Estonia. He spent his childhood in Latvia, in Riga.

His artistic career was marked early on by encounters: with Henri MATISSE in Nice in 1948, and ARMAN and Yves KLEIN in 1956. It was the contact with “monochromy” that led him to burn most of his “abstract” canvases of the time. In 1958, he resided in Paris where he enrolled at Science-Po and the School of Oriental Languages while intermittently attending courses at the Faculty of Law and the Institute of Filmography at the Sorbonne.

In 1961, he returned to Nice and created the magazine “Sud Communication” where he articulated the first theory of what would become the “School of Nice”, of which he would be a cornerstone. He then became friends with Martial RAYSSE. His name also appeared in the credits of TV segments on cinema as a director at Télé Monte Carlo. In 1962, he completed his military service in Toulouse, concluding it in the capacity of an archaeologist after the discovery of the largest French deposit of Gallo-Roman tombs, in collaboration with the CNRS. From 1963 to 1966, he worked in the press and printing and became Jean SAINTENY’s collaborator, before participating for three years as an author or chronicler in reporting for the television program “Dim Dam Dom” by Daisy GALLARD, before becoming a war photojournalist. He then traveled to Ireland, Bangladesh, and Biafra. From this last stay, he published a book “Biafra, Proximity of Death, Continuity of Life” with a preface by Professor Wolff, Nobel Laureate, and Pierre Emmanuel of the French Academy.

His candid photographs, whose most shocking elements he would obfuscate, allowed him to observe the expressive power of obliteration that would become his personal language. He would consistently develop this concept of obliteration, “hiding to see better,” on various supports: paintings, sculptures, and architectures. The viewer is invited to mentally reconstruct these images and shapes concealed by voids, solids, or plaques.

In 1969, he settled in Montparnasse and participated in the beginnings of video art and the sociological art movement. He performed and painted on sensitive photographic canvas. The following year, he wrote the libretto for a ballet, “Astronomy,” made for television by Guy JOB with music by Pierre HENRY. His first exhibitions took place in Europe in the early 1970s: Bologna, Geneva, Porto, Munich, Nice, and Paris.

In 1974, he left Paris, sold his studio, and bought a yacht in Holland to sail across the Atlantic on the Go West with his partner Maschat. His journey lasted three years, from the summer of 1976 to the fall of 1979, while his Parisian career was flourishing. A form of obliteration in his own life?

Upon his return to France, he settled in Nice before setting off again to India, the United States, Japan, Korea, Canada, Greece, China… where he continued his work and held exhibitions.

Sacha SOSNO resided in Nice where the artist set up his studio amidst his vineyards and olive trees.

His works, where he primarily uses bronze, stone, or steel, blend into the urban landscape of Nice, from West to East: The Gate of the Alpes-Maritimes at the Administrative Center (CADAM), “Looks at the Arenas” The Fountain Sculptures, Carras “Poseidon” and “Homage to Venus,” “In all things, prefer the inside to the outside” the Venus of the Elysée Palace, The Square Head Library, “In all things, prefer the inside to the outside” Acropolis Palace, and “Draped in the void” MAMAC Garden.

“For the artist, sculpture must enter the city, leave the ghetto of large art galleries” “The best gallery for sculpture is the street, the beach, the square,” said Sacha Sosno.

A Nice stroll to rediscover the works of Sacha SOSNO:

“Looks at the Arenas”, The Fountain Sculptures at the Arenas

Located in the business complex of the Arenas, near the airport, two fountains of bronze and black granite with a height of seven meters were installed in 1992.

Carras: “Poseidon” and “Homage to Venus”

The “Poseidon” and “Homage to Venus” of Carras (at 2 av de Carras at the corner with California Avenue)
(Architect: Michel ORSELLI – MEUNIER Group 2006)
Steel sculptures of 7 and 4.5 meters high representing two ancient deities:
Venus the Roman goddess of love (Aphrodite in Greece) and Poseidon the Greek god of the seas and oceans.

“In all things, prefer the inside to the outside”, the Venus Façade hotel

Located at 59, promenade des Anglais the “Venus of the façade of the Four Points Sheraton ex Elysée Palace hotel” offers since 1988 two monumental bronze sculptures of Venus, 26 meters high and 420 tons of granite, that appear in the smoked glass façade and white granite. (Architect: Georges MARGUARITA)

“In all things, prefer the inside to the outside” Acropolis Palace

Located on the pavement of the East façade of the Acropolis Exhibition Palace, this sculpture, a bronze and two blocks of white Carrara marble 4.80 meters high, has watched over the congress attendees since 1985.

The “Gate of the Alpes-Maritimes” at the Administrative Center (CADAM