Josef Pillhofer
Sans titre
1964
Crédit photo: David Giral, 2010
Presentation of the artwork
The artwork is situated in Mount Royal Park, near Smith House. It is composed of a reinforced-concrete base upon which sits a monolithic sculpted limestone form combining curved and angular geometric shapes.Pillhofer’s artwork, influenced by cubism, is a geometric abstraction with furrowed surfaces. It gives a sense of both humility and freedom, gathering and strength. Pillhofer challenges the plan confronting figuration, but without opposing it.
Associated events
Pillhofer’s artwork was executed for the International Sculpture Symposium in Montréal (1964), the first time a symposium was held in North America. The goals of this concept, created a few years earlier in Europe, were to have artists create monumental sculptures in a context of encounters with the public and to provide public spaces with international-calibre artworks. Instigated by sculptor Robert Roussil, this symposium gathered 11 sculptors from nine countries and attracted more than 40,000 visitors. It was seen as one of the events that brought Québec into artistic and cultural modernity.
Josef Pillhofer
Born in 1921, in Vienna, Austria, Josef Pillhofer attended the school of arts and crafts in Graz, and then studied sculpture with Wotruba, in Vienna. In 1950, he obtained a scholarship that enabled him to pursue his studies at the Académie des beaux-arts in Paris. There, he met the sculptors Zadkine, Brancusi, Laurens, and Marini. During his career, he had exhibitions in Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Venice. He died in 2010.
