A restoration carried out in a short time Sunday, June 7, 2020. The bust of Jules Durand which we learned of the degradation Thursday, June 5 has been repaired by Hervé Delamare, the sculptor who gave birth to the work in 2018 to mark the centenary of innocence pronounced by the dockworker and coal unionist who was unjustly sentenced to death in 1910. Installed on Quai Colbert, the sculpture bore the marks of a blow or a projectile that had sprayed part of its nose.
Quickly, we thought of a voluntary degradation, such as those committed on the works of Fabien Mérelle. Two years ago: lacerations brought to theOrigin (a man carrying an elephant at the end of the Augustin-Normand dike). A month ago: the burning of the statue Till the end of the world.
–
“In public space,
he is exposed “
Scenario in which Hervé Delamare, from his Harfleur workshop, has a hard time believing. “If it was a voluntary act, its author (s) would have tried to be relentless. However, the bust bore no other trace of aggression than this disappeared tip of the nose. I know very well that when you fix an element in public space it is exposed to the risk of damage. Often, too, involuntary. A falling branch, a nearby game between kids that goes wrong with a projectile jet, a construction site. “
There are trees nearby. From the public, he spends all day long on this quay in order to go, on the other bank of the Vauban basin, to the Docks shopping center. A road construction site, there is one continuing. The artist, whose work had been donated through a public subscription at the initiative of the association of the Friends of Jules-Durand, will be careful not to speculate.
– – .
