Staircase

Étienne-Martin

Loriol, 1913 – Paris, 1995

1984
Wood, metal, plexiglass
225 x 150 x 128 cm
Sc. 184
On indefinite loan from the National Contemporary Art Fund, 1991
© Musée de Valence, photo Musée de Valence

Information

The work of Étienne-Martin is based on autobiographical elements drawn from his infancy and childhood at Loriol in Drôme. His sculptures, without being reduced to simple illustrations, originate in the complexity and memory of his childhood home.  The Staircase is part of Residences, a series of sculptures begun in 1954, and is a microcosm of his personal vocabulary: materials, imposing form, alphabet, numbers, colours…an infinite number of household rooms are contained in the three levels of this Staircase, places of memory and emotion that can be detected through a topographical alphabet: each letter corresponds to a room in the house and a time in his life. 


Etienne-Martin – The Staircase ©Museum of Valence, photo Éric Caillet

Etienne-Martin – The Staircase ©Museum of Valence, photo Éric Caillet

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