The bronze sculptor, Étienne, died at the age of 72 on the night of January 16 to 17, 2025. Based on the Île de Ré, in Charente-Maritime, for around thirty years, it is there that he created his works with the aim of depicting a “happy humanity” with research into emptiness. An artist “with a brilliant soul” to whom his friend, the painter Olivier Suire Verley, pays tribute.
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“He had a soul that shone, and his sculptures resembled his soul.“With sadness, the painter Olivier Suire Verley remembers his friend Étienne, a”master of sculpture” died on the night of January 16 to 17. Based on the Île de Ré since the 1990s, it was in his workshop in Rivedoux-Plage that he designed his bronze sculptures transcribing his taste for humanity, love and spirituality. A real sensitivity which has earned him international success, from New York to China.
Born in 1952, Étienne Pirot known as “Étienne” grew up directly, immersed in the artistic environment. Son of the painter Jean-Marie Pirot, better known as Arcabas, he began his studies at the University of Ottawa before continuing in Marseille and completing his course at the Beaux-Arts in Paris. Throughout his career, he exhibited in France, the United States, throughout Europe and in Asia.
Étienne was particularly fond of sculpting birds, “symbols of freedom and peace”.
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After experimenting with wood and stone, Etienne decided to work with bronze, which he would never leave again. “Initially, I am a tailor, but a tailor who needs this void. Stone, wood, and other materials did not allow me to hollow out like that. This is why I turned to bronze which allowed me to remove material in order to suggest in the voids“, he told France 3 in 2016, opening the doors to his workshop.
In addition to this work of emptiness, the sculptor was particularly fond of the different shades that bronze can take. “This contrast between gold and color gives life to the sculpture.“
I have tremendous pleasure in revealing bronze, when it is polished, it is like gold.
Étienne Pirot known as Étienne,sculptor
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After working with wood and stone, Étienne turned to bronze for the void it allows but also the different colors that the metal offers.
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“He worked on his works with great purity. He breathed as he sculpted“, remembers Olivier Suire Verley. Étienne imposed real demands on his works, constantly refining them. “My problem is to be both the bearer of a message and a symbolism while being very accurate visually. I don't have much room for error“, revealed the sculptor to France 3.
In his sculptures, the faces are very worked, the hands are designed with precision. And one element keeps coming back: birds. “Birds, for me, are a kind of extraordinary rallying point between earth and sky. They are extraordinary symbols of freedom and peace for all humanity.explained the artist. That's what interests me: happy humanity.“
The sculptor was very demanding on the message he wanted to convey through his works but also on the precision of the details of the rendering.
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Olivier Suire Verley notably remembers going to China with him, to exhibit together. “He was already very well known there and it was extraordinary to see people appreciate his workremembers the painter. His skin-deep sensitivity touched the people there, it resonated with them.“
The sculptor Étienne in his workshop in Rivedoux-Plage, on the Ile de Ré.
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It is this universal sensitivity that has made it successful throughout the world. But of all the places where he exhibited, it was on the Ile de Ré that the sculptor felt best. “I chose a territory that suits me perfectly, in which I know how to recharge my batteries and find inspiration. I'm more and more happy to be here“, he said in 2016.
Étienne had a masterful side, a real stature, that weight that great artists have!
Olivier Suire Verley,artist and friend of Étienne
His friend, Olivier Suire Verley, remembers a gourmet who organized at his home “amazing dinners“. He remembers a faithful and “crazy honest” man, capable of getting carried away in discussions about art. “He had a somewhat candid innocence and at the same time a deep reflection“, he portrays, smiling despite the sorrow.
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