Elsa Sahal

? First monograph on Elsa Sahal, a rising star of contemporary ceramics Trained at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-arts de Paris in the atelier of Georges Jeanclos, Elsa Sahal quickly focused on working with ceramics for their sensuality and fragility. Former resident at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, in 2013 (Helena, MT), at Alfred University, New York State College of Ceramics, in 2009-2010 (Alfred, NY) and at the Manufacture Nationale de Sevres (2007-2008), Elsa Sahal has also taught at the Haute Ecole d'Art et de Design in Geneva and at the Ecole Superieure d'Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg. She experiments in particular with the idea of volume and balance in sculpture, while returning to an exploration of the themes of the body and femininity. Ambiguous, dense, sensual and colourful, her works oscillate between anthropomorphic landscape and the landscaped body, taking up Cezanne's dream of uniting women's curves with the shoulders of hills. Elsa Sahal conceives, kneads and then produces complex and disturbing forms sustained by dense colours and sublimated through enamel. Winner of the MAIF prize for sculpture, in 2008, and the contemporary sculpture prize awarded by the Fondazione Francesco Messina, in 2007, Elsa Sahal has presented her work in one-woman shows and group exhibitions in numerous museums around the globe. Text in English and French.