Marine de Soos

Woman with a Lantern by Marine de Soos - Mother and child bronze sculpture

21st century

French artist and sculptor Marine de Soos specializes in creating contemporary bronze sculptures inspired by her childhood memories in Africa and extensive travels throughout Asia. 

Born in Paris in 1967, de Soos spent most of her childhood years living with her family in Africa. While exploring the African continent, she learned about its people's ancient traditions and cultures — an experience that fuels her artistic inspiration to this day.

After returning to France, de Soos pursued a career in marketing before she shifted her focus toward sculpture. In 1991, she trained with American master sculptor Jonathan Hirschfeld.

Following her studies with Hirschfeld, de Soos established her studio, where she focused on creating figurative sculptures, nude sculptures and outdoor monumental lost-wax bronze sculptures — an ancient process that sees a duplicate bronze sculpture cast from an original sculpture. 

De Soos’s human forms often encapsulate emotion and movement through a subtle gesture — be it a turn of the head, a specific positioning of a hand or how a foot is placed on a sculpture’s base. For instance, in Getting Close to the Sky, de Soos captures a father holding his child up and over his head — the patriarch’s expression is one that is characterized by joy and wonder — while in Babbling, the artist depicts an intimate moment of a mother conversing with her baby. Elsewhere, de Soos mines the animal kingdom for inspiration, creating sculptures of African elephants, playful baboons, graceful camels or India’s sacred cows. 

De Soos has regularly exhibited her sculptures at shows and galleries throughout Europe since 1999. Her works feature in numerous collections, including the L’Oreal global headquarters in Clichy, the French Embassy in New Delhi, Primo Piano at the Bon Marché in Paris and Le Chabichou Hotel and Spa in Courchevel.

Find original Marine de Soos sculptures on 1stDibs.