Interview: Nicolas Bertoux — Speaking Materially with Sarah Monk
Sculptor Nicolas Bertoux, originally from Paris, now living in Tuscany is being interviewed by Materially Speaking‘s Sarah Monk #2
Materially Speaking is a podcast, and a very interesting one at that.
Sarah Monk and I started talking about what they do and this mini-series is the result. The first article was specifically about their Notre Dame work. At that time I promised to publish more interesting podcasts and articles for you to listen to, and to read. Watch out for more of these to come.
Originally from Paris, Nicolas first came to Carrara with his father, also a sculptor, who was working on a monumental piece at Henraux.
Now Nicolas Bertoux lives and works in Seravezza, northern Tuscany with his partner Cynthia Sah, in an extraordinary pre-industrial building that was once a historic sawmill, where marble was cut for the very first time by water-powered machinery.
Nicolas Bertoux examines a piece of marble in the light, Seravezza
He was drawn to move to the area not because of the studios and artisans, but because of the quarries. He likens the search for raw material to buying your food at a farm instead of a supermarket. He wants to talk to the quarrymen and know the chain of production. 
The Wind Tree project was due to be installed just as the pandemic hit so instead of installing the piece himself Nicolas had to box it very carefully, then guide people at the other end to erect it in his absence.
When Nicolas was approached by the coastguard, and forced to pay an administrative fine for a lack of paperwork, he and other sculptors created a work of protest – Protesta (Yell).
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- The Medici Palace of Seravezza, Unesco World Heritage Site (left)
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- Cynthia and Nicolas’ Artco workshops (right)
Nicolas Bertoux and Cynthia Sah, outside their workshops, Seravezza
Links
Find more about the Arkad Foundation
In the episode, Nicolas refers to:
- The Italian sculptor Pietro Cascella, who created a memorial for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp which consists of blocks and columns on the site of the camp’s railway station. Pietro Cascella’s large work Memoria di Pietrasanta, 2001, represents oxen who pulled the marble down from the quarries and stands opposite the town hall in Pietrasanta.
- Gigi Guadagnucci (link in Italian) who was born in Castagnetola (Massa) in 1915, worked in marble from a very young age and distinguished himself by his ability to create funeral works without the use of models.
La Fenice workshops, Pietrasanta
The project Wind Tree, 2019
The Medici Palace of Seravezza
Credits
Producer: Sarah Monk
Sound edit/design: Guy Dowsett
Music: courtesy of Audio Network
- Time Weaver 2298/6, Dan Skinner, Adam Skinner
- Blind Man’s Bluff 2959/1, Sam Wedgwood
- Scallop Waltz 2 2879/29, Paul Ressel
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About the Contributor
Judy MacMahon
