Bust of Pierre Rolinet

Bust of Pierre Rolinet is a bronze sculpture by contemporary artist Cécile Raynal.

At the crossroads of an artistic gesture and a personal account, fiction and documentary, this is a portrait of a man met as he entered his 98th year. The words of the survivors are accessible to us through certain films, and even today those of living survivors, including Mr Pierre Rolinet, Resistance fighter, arrested in 1943 then deported to the Struthof camp then to Dachau, survivor, tireless witness, Commander of the Legion of Honour.

Not that there could be ONE portrait of a man who would bear the face of the survivors, but we are at a moment in history when the last surviving survivors of the Nazi camps are disappearing. The last words that will be spoken by those who witnessed them. Then there are those of historians, filmed documentaries and works of art. So I went to meet Pierre Rolinet and discover his stories. And for a week, when he hosted a temporary workshop in the basement of his house, we worked on two clay portraits.

Cécile Raynal’s work on Pierre Rolinet’s portrait was immortalised in Jean-Marie Gigon’s documentary Sculpter la mémoire (Sculpting Memory), which received a Scam Star in 2025. The documentary can be watched by clicking on this link.

First visit to Pierre’s home in Brognard (France) by Cécile Raynal. September 2020

As soon as I arrived, after putting down my bag and coat and being welcomed with a cup of tea, Pierre started to tell his story. As if, and this was indeed the case, he didn’t have a minute to waste.Happy to be listened to by brand new ears, he seemed to gain momentum as his story progressed. His memory was also amazing, as was the clarity of his narration. Sometimes I interrupted him to extend the story of the deportation to the long night before and after the Struthof.

That is, childhood, adolescence, the Resistance, work, the large family he built with his wife, the link of transmission to his children and grandchildren, the relationship that memory and politics have in his opinion, the representations that exist at the Struthof (the monumental flame, the recumbent statue of 46, the cross of Lorraine, the commemorative plaques, the Christian cross), his relationship to “other memories”, to other stories, to writings….

Pierre was inexhaustible, and I had to end our conversations on the first day at 11pm to let him rest. And shake off all the horrors I’ve heard.
That night he didn’t sleep, he told me in the morning.

Over the next few hours, we continued to let his words unwind like a ball of yarn, while looking at albums of family reunions and ceremonial occasions. We also looked at some images of sculptures, and talked about certain sites or works of art linked to the memory of this war. We also talked about certain trips.
Finally, we talked about the project for which I was contacted a few months ago, a contemporary work of art linked to the Struthof.

It seemed to me that Pierre didn’t have a minute left to devote to anything other than surviving a little longer and bearing witness with that little time he had left. He stood as a missionary of the memory of all those dead with whom he shared his daily life.

A staunch Protestant, he told me that in the camp he prayed to a God he knew to be deaf. A staunch Protestant, he says tearfully that when his beloved wife died a few months earlier, they said neither “au revoir” nor “adieu”. But she thanked him for all the years he had been by her side. There was no hope of a reunion at home. He also says that the dead are far too numerous to be able to meet up in any kind of paradise. And that hell exists. This we know. He came back from it.No lyre, no light, no right to forget.

We coordinated our diaries and visited the possible spaces in his house, taking into account the logistics inherent in sculpture (travel, transporting equipment, visibility distances between us, how comfortable Pierre would be sitting, how much time per day, how many days, etc.).
We would be working in the basement of his house during the week of the 26th October.

I asked him to model for two pieces alternately, a seated portrait, about fifty centimeters high, and a bust portrait. He agreed that certain stages could be filmed. So I told Jean-Marie Gigon, a documentary film-maker and producer, who was hoping to follow me on this journey. To my great relief, he made himself available and was enthusiastic about coming to film there.I wouldn’t be alone with the stories of Pierre, the survivor who absorbs my present, but with a cinematographer and film producer who is as sensitive to artistic gestures as he is to memories with gaps in them.
Among the last sentences he uttered during this interview, this one still resonates: I knew I was going to be shot.

The portrait of Pierre

There is a famous novel by Luis Sepulveda entitled ‘The Old Man Who Read Love Novels’.
Pierre didn’t read love novels, he told stories of death. However, little by little over the five days of intense work that we shared, Pierre also spoke of love. Of Jacqueline, his wife. Of brotherhood. Of faith.
Of the dead without forgetting the living. His memory was a never-ending stream.

Back in the studio, I let the seated portrait dry, waiting to be fired, and I reworked the bust.

On the three quarters of the front, there remained the portrait of a very dignified and gentle old man, in a thick tweed suit, with buttons on the sleeves and a tie, gaullist, pensive, very upright, a man standing tall. On the unfinished right profile, the arm became a hole, the garment became shredded material. The back, meanwhile, became a heavy mass, vertically striated with wide bands the size of those worn by prisoners, and which some of them, including Pierre and his friend Robert Salomon, dressed in for commemoration ceremonies.

In English, ‘back’ means back. This portrait bears different facets of an infinite story, the story of time that runs through all of us, and which in this man’s case was marked by indelible lines.

Preparation and delivery times for the artwork:
The preparation time ranges from 1 to 5 business days.
The shipping time, which is in addition to the preparation time, varies depending on the country of origin and the destination country. It can take anywhere between 1 and 15 business days. As soon as the carrier picks up the parcel containing your order, you will receive a confirmation email with a tracking number you can use to check the status of your shipment by logging in to the carrier’s website.

Shipping times and conditions: we work with the most respected carriers on the market to offer you the best service at the best price. Shipping fees, which are billed to the buyer, are indicated in the shopping cart after you have entered and confirmed the shipping address. The fees are determined according to a scale that depends on the dimensions and weight of the artwork ordered, the address of origin and the shipping address.

International delivery: the international carriers with which we work, including FedEx and DHL, deliver to more than 200 countries and territories around the world. Thus, your country is probably one of the covered areas. If that is not the case, please email us so that we can find a solution.

Insurance: Artistics insures each shipment under a policy that covers the risks of loss or damage to your order while it is being transported to the shipping address you provide. The cost of this insurance is included in the shipping fees. If your order is damaged upon delivery, you should flag the issue with the carrier, then contact us so that we can respond as quickly as possible.

Custom duties: if the order is shipped from or to a non-EU member country, your invoice does not include taxes. Any customs duties, local taxes or import duties are the buyer’s responsibility. As such, we encourage you to contact the relevant authorities in your country of residence to obtain more information.

Free returns: if for any reason, you are not satisfied with your purchase, you can return it free of charge within 14 days of receipt of your package: we will send a carrier to pick up the piece and we will cover the return shipping fees. You will be reimbursed for the order amount after we have received the work in perfect condition.

For more information, go to our Buyer FAQ section or contact us by phone at +331.40.28.92.28 or by email at contact@artistics.com.

Artistics accepts payment by bank card, check (if it is drawn on a bank in France), wire transfer and PayPal.

Bank card. We accept major credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, CB and American Express. Payments made on our website are completely secure as they are processed by our banking partner, the CIC. Your banking information is encrypted and sent to the CIC and is never handled by Artistics.

Bank check: The check must be payable in France (i.e., the bank branch that issues the check must be registered in France). Please make the check payable to Artistics and mail it, along with a photocopy or a scan of your legal ID or passport, to: Artistics – 16 rue de Turbigo – 75002 Paris – France. Please write your name and order number on the back of the check. If you choose this payment method, please note that your order will not be processed until we receive the check.

Wire transfer: If you choose this payment method, please note that your order will not be processed until we receive the wire on our bank account. After your order is confirmed, we will email you the information needed to send the wire transfer.

PayPal

Regardless of the type of payment method chosen, you will receive a confirmation email a few minutes after your payment has been approved. You can also access this information on your personal account on our website.

For more information, go to our Buyer FAQ section or contact us by phone at +331.40.28.92.28 or by email at contact@artistics.com.