claude mercier

Born on September 10, 1924, in Paris, Claude Mercier emerged as a leading French sculptor in the post-war era, renowned for his work in metal. After training at the École Boulle and later at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Marcel Gimond, he developed a distinctive sculptural language using materials such as aluminum, brass, copper, and stainless steel to create abstract forms of both strength and elegance. Encouraged early in his career by figures such as Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, and Brassaï, he took part in major contemporary art exhibitions from the 1960s onward.

His works are held in significant public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Fonds national d’art contemporain, and various regional collections in France and abroad. From the 1980s, Mercier divided his time between Paris and his studio-home in Yèvre-la-Ville, producing both monumental public sculptures and intimate “constructions” exploring balance, tension, and lyrical movement. In 2015, he was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters. Claude Mercier passed away on January 24, 2019, leaving a lasting legacy in abstract metal sculpture.