Jean-Pierre Rives

Jean-Pierre Rives (born 31 December 1952) is a French former rugby union player and visual artist.
"A cult figure in France", according to the "BBC", he came to epitomise the team's spirit and "ultra-committed, guts-and-glory style of play".
He won 59 [[Cap (sport)|caps]] for [[France national rugby union team|France]] – 34 of them as captain – and was inducted into the [[International Rugby Hall of Fame]].
After retiring from the sport, Rives concentrated entirely on his art.
He is both a painter and a sculptor, and exhibiting regularly at prominent public venues all over the globe. Rives was awarded the [[Ordre national de la Legion d'honneur|Order of the Legion of Honor]] and the [[ordre national du Mérite|National Order of Merit]] by the government of France.
Early life and career.
Jean-Pierre Rives was born on 31 December 1952 in Saint-Simon, a suburb of [[Toulouse]], in the [[Haute-Garonne]], Occitan [[Departments of France|departement]] of southwestern France. He grew up with his brother Philippe in the family of Jo and Lydia Rives. Jean-Pierre started drawing and painting in [[primary school]] – a passion that would stay with him throughout his whole life. His father was a pilot and an avid tennis player, and he encouraged his son, who excelled in athletics at early age, to pursue tennis, but it was rugby that would become Jean-Pierre Rives' ultimate choice.
Rugby.
Rives began playing rugby for his hometown club in 1974. Even though he was considered to be too small to play as [[Flanker (rugby union)|flanker]], standing at 5 ft 10 in (178 cm), he decisively proved the doubters wrong, and it was not long until his unmistakable talent gained attention from the national selectors. Rives made his France debut against England in 1975, at the age of 22, marking the start of an international career that would take him to the very top in terms of both personal and team achievements.
Jean-Pierre Rives was instrumental in helping France to the [[Grand Slam (Rugby Union)|Grand Slam]] in 1977 and was installed as French captain during the 1978 season. He played for [[:fr:TOEC|TOEC]], Beaumont and [[Stade Toulousain]], then in 1981 left Toulouse to join [[Racing Métro 92|Racing Club de France]]. During Rives' rugby career, the essence of his game was to be always close to the ball, in the thick of the action. He was dubbed the "Casque d'or" (French for "Golden helmet") due to his long and wild blond hair. [[:fr:Roger Couderc|Roger Couderc]], the iconic voice of rugby on French TV of the time, came up with this nickname that stuck with Rives throughout his entire career. It was his hair, along with his bravery, which also brought him the nickname [[Asterix]].
Rives captained France in 34 games, a world record at the time, and played in the teams which completed the Grand Slam in the (then) [[Six Nations Championship|Five Nations Championship]] in 1977 and 1981. Rives also captained the first French side to beat the [[All Blacks]] in New Zealand. He also played for a [[World XV]] on 9 August 1980 against in [[Buenos Aires]], losing 36–22. Rives would have his career ended by a succession of shoulder injuries in 1984. His final match for France came in that year's [[Six Nations Championship|Five Nations]] defeat to Scotland at [[Murrayfield Stadium|Murrayfield]].
In 2000, a documentary feature film entitled "L'Empreinte des champions: Jean-Pierre Rives" ("The Mark of the Champions: Jean-Pierre Rives") was released and made headlines. The reviews were largely positive, but there were detractors as well. The loudest criticism came from [[Libération]], which found the documentary to be "evocative of a [[hagiography]] about a member of the [[Politburo]], released by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] news media". "[[Altruism]], courage, [[charisma]], generosity, moral strength, humility – it's all there," lamented the [[Left-wing politics|left]] leaning French daily.
Jean-Pierre Rives was influential in France's bid to host the [[2007 Rugby World Cup]], and played a part in the trophy presentation following the tournament's final. One of his sculptures is now a part of the French rugby calendar, after he was asked in 2007 to design the [[Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy]]. The trophy is awarded annually to the winner of the [[Six Nations Championship|Six Nations]] match between France and Italy. Also in 2007, [[Roselyne Bachelot]], the French [[Minister of Health (France)|Minister of Health]], inaugurated a new Sports Center in [[Courbevoie]], a suburb of Paris. To honor Rives' brilliant achievements, the spacious new 272000 square foot [[Sports Complex]] was named "Espace Jean-Pierre Rives."
A "legend", according to the "[[BBC]]", and "a blood-stained hero [who] remains an iconic presence to fans the world over", according to "[[ESPN]]", Jean-Pierre Rives' fame transcends sport. He has been an inspiration and a role model for fans across generational and cultural lines."I marvel at the emergence of an artist like Jean-Pierre Rives," wrote the prize winning French author [[Antoine Blondin]]. Other admirers included architect [[Jean Nouvel]], who admits to not being a sports enthusiast, television personality [[:fr:Maïtena Biraben|Maïtena Biraben]], who calls him "her idol," and actor [[Hugh Jackman]], who said of him, "I was pretty obsessed with rugby player Jean-Pierre Rives. A small guy on the field, he finished every game with blood on face."
[[File:Rives sur Berges-8.JPG|thumb|300px|Exhibition "Rives sur Berges" in [[Lyon]], France, 2007]]
Art.
– Jean-Pierre Rives.
Jean-Pierre Rives turned to art full-time after his retirement from rugby in 1984. Art had been his passion since early boyhood, and he immersed himself in it with dedication that soon earned him critical acclaim. Rives' chosen media became painting and sculpture, which he took up when he was still a rugby player, after meeting a well-known French sculptor and [[Prix de Rome]] winner, [[Albert Feraud]]. The two men found a commonality of aesthetics, and Rives moved to a house not far away from Feraud's home in [[Bagneux, Hauts-de-Seine|Bagneux]]. Many of Rives' earlier sculptures were created in Feraud's atelier, where both artists worked side by side. "He invited me to his studio, and I never got out," Rives told Hugh Schofield of the "[[BBC]]". Rives considers Albert Feraud a great man and an inspiration. Another artist that inspired Rives' work is a Polish-born French painter [[Ladislas Kijno]].
The bond between art and sport feels natural to Rives, as he believes that art and rugby can be interconnected, and emotions are found in both. "In sports you make movement and you are maybe sculpting or painting in the space with your body," he told Clara Iaccarino of the "[[Sydney Morning Herald]]". "In art you use instruments. Art is just energy, you have to do it; it has to come out." He works in a disused railway shed in the north of Paris, where he forms and twists his found steel, manipulating the shapes created by the resulting positive and negative spaces. He cuts the beams strategically to form complex compositions in which the hardness of the steel forms a powerful juxtaposition to the soft curves. Rives' sculptures were called by the French "[[La Dépêche du Midi]]" "a marvelous mixture of suffering, grace and beauty".
Rives sees his paintings as the two-dimensional reflections of his sculptures. He uses the word "impression" to describe both the technique and the philosophy applied to his canvases. The impression is made by a mark or an indentation created by pressure, as if his sculptures were dipped in tar and paint and then pressed onto the surface of a canvas. This term "impression" also alludes to the effect the paintings produce on the viewer, and the feelings they evoke.
Jean-Pierre Rives' sculptures have been showcased at public venues around the world including the prestigious [[Jardin du Luxembourg]] in Paris, a stone's throw from the classical [[French senate|Senate]] building, in 2002. This installation marked the first time sculptures were exhibited there since [[Auguste Rodin]]'s exhibition more than a century ago. A widely attended and written about [[vernissage]] attracted many of France's powerful political and business leaders and, according to the influential [[Le Point]], included "a pack of Rives' elite" – friends and collectors all – [[Serge Kampf]], founder of [[Cap Gemini]], [[Claude Bébéar]], founder of [[AXA]], [[:fr:Henri Lachmann|Henri Lachmann]], CEO of [[Schneider Electric]], [[:fr:Jean-René Fourtou|Jean-René Fourtou]], Chairman of [[Vivendi]], [[:fr:Pierre Dauzier|Pierre Dauzier]], President of [[Havas]] and [[Thierry Breton]] Chairman of [[France Télécom]] and future [[Minister of the Economy, Finances and Industry (France)|Finance Minister]]. Other large scale shows included the annual "Sculpture by the Sea" exhibition in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, an exhibition in the historically important [[Brussels Park|Royal Park]] in Brussels, Belgium, in 2009, an exhibition in the 18th century sculpture garden [[:fr:Grand Rond (jardin)|Le Grand Rond]] in Toulouse, France, in 2010, an installation on the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in [[Manhattan]], New York, in 2010, and a large-scale installation at the [[:fr:Musée des Jacobins d'Auch|Musée des Jacobins]] in Auch, France in 2014, to name a few.
Jean-Pierre Rives' work is found in numerous private and public collections throughout the globe, including [[Musée du quai Branly]] in Paris, [[Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris]], also in Paris, and Asago Art Village Museum and Sculpture Garden in [[Asago, Hyōgo|Asago]], Japan, among many others. He is represented in the U.S. by the [[Serge Sorokko|Serge Sorokko Gallery]].
Personal life.
Jean-Pierre Rives met his first wife, an American model and singer/songwriter Jennifer Taylor, in Paris, in the early 1980s. The marriage ended in a divorce. He has since remarried and fathered two sons – Jasper and Kino-Jean. Rives and his wife, Sonia, split their time between [[Ibiza]] and [[St-Tropez]], where they live in a wooden family home that resembles a tree house. The property is located near a local golf course and includes a luscious garden, with a bamboo grove, mimosa bushes, and lemon and fig trees. He loves life on the [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]], where he can paint and sculpt in peace and solitude.
External links.
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Toulouse]]
[[Category:French rugby union players]]
[[Category:Stade Toulousain players]]
[[Category:Rugby union flankers]]
[[Category:World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:France international rugby union players]]
[[Category:20th-century French painters]]
[[Category:20th-century male artists]]
[[Category:French male painters]]
[[Category:21st-century French painters]]
[[Category:21st-century male artists]]
[[Category:Officers of the National Order of Merit (France)]]
[[Category:20th-century French sculptors]]
[[Category:French male sculptors]]