Patinated bronze low-relief (1998)
Elisabeth Barmarin has portrayed the late King Baudouin, standing in such a way that it seems he is walking into the metro station. The 1m20 wide and 2m25 high sculpture is in a realist style, in which austerity and simplicity set the tone. In the workshop, Elisabeth Barmarin kept the high relief of the dried earth, which portrays King Baudouin. The earth is worn and cracked. The pain and loss are locked in and thus confirmed. When the work of art was created, the soft earth was replaced by bronze, a more solid material, as a symbol of the memory of the people. It was a very emotional experience for the artist to create a sculpture – for a public place – about a person (and also, ultimately, about their presence/ absence) whose disappearance plunged the whole country into mourning. Other than the King, the artist also engraved several silhouettes representing the many people who loved their King. Elisabeth Barmarin happily quotes the reaction she had from a STIB official: “It looks as if the King is between heaven and earth”.
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ELISABETH BARMARIN (1915 – 2010)
She trained at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. She creates portraits and models but her speciality is sculpture, for which she has received many prizes. Elisabeth Barmarin started off with stylised figures. She also drew her inspiration in the theme of mother and child, although we often find birds in her sculptures. This artist often works with clay, wax, bronze and stone. She has also recently designed mirror boxes. Her works of art never seem complete, but are rather unfinished and infinite. They can be seen in various public places in Brussels, such as the Royal Observatory in Uccle. Elisabeth Barmarin also gave lessons at the “aux Soeurs de Sainte-Marie” school and in the “Institut supérieur d’Architecture de Saint-Luc”.
PICTURES
