Harold Ambellan was born in 1912 in Buffalo, in the state of New York, and passed away in Arles in 2006. After studying sculpture and fine arts in his hometown, he received a scholarship from the Art Student Leaguein 1930. From 1935 to 1939, he was one of many American artists to be supported by the Federal Art Project, implemented byPresident Roosevelt as part of the New Deal. In 1938, he participated in the collective exhibition‘Subway Art’ at the MoMAin New York andformed a friendship with the sculptors Jacques Lipchitz and Ossip Zadkine. In 1941, he was elected chairman of the Sculptors Guild of America and exhibited his sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the Fine Arts Academy in Philadelphia. After being discharged from the US Navy, he taught at the Workshop School in New York. His politicalviews that weretoo leftist in light of the rise of McCarthyism in America, drove him to emigrate to France in 1954. After several years spent in Paris, in the district of Montparnasse, he discovered the south of France upon a visit to Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1961,then headed to Antibes the following year. He lived there until 1979, before moving to Arles, the city in which he created new works for 26 years.
Work
The human figure is central toHarold Ambellan’s creativity.His range of male and female silhouettes, depicted alone or in couples, act as graphic motifs as well as a basis for reflection on man’s role in the universe. The artist draws inspiration from German expressionism and cubism,as well as from Indianand African art, however the influence ofGreco-Roman ancient art remains central. Although he always regarded himself as a sculptor, Ambellan was also interested in ceramics, painting and metalwork, creating among other things a collection of medals for the Monnaie de Paris. His extensive graphic workremains key to understanding his art, confirming Zadkine’s assertion according to which ‘a sculptor who doesn’t draw, who doesn’t paint, is a caricature’. From among over 3,500 drawings, preserved by his daughters Anne and Zoé Ambellan, a selection of 125 pieces covering the whole of the artist’s creative period (1949 to 2004) was carried out for the bequest to Musée Réattu. A first set of drawings covering the period from 1949 to1979 will be presentedin one of thepermanent collection roomsuntil 31st May. The Arles production(1980-2004) will feature in a second rehang in 2021. Exhibitedjust a step away from the Picasso bequest – an artist to whom Ambellan sometimes pays tribute–and sculptures by Zadkine, the Ambellan bequest fits perfectly in the museum collection.This collection encompassing Marino Marini and Pol Bury,as well asCarmen Perrin and Vincent Barré, is cultivating more thanever its taste for the work ofsculptors.
