L'Homme aux semelles devant

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“L'Homme aux semelles devant” by Jean-Robert Ipoustéguy, 1984
Monument to Arthur Rimbaud
Place du Père-Teilhard-de-Chardin
Quartier de l'Arsenal, 4th arrondissement
Paris, July 2011

“A commission carried out by late Jean-Robert Ipoustéguy, this sculpture from mid-1980 parodically depicted the poet Arthur Rimbaud. A restless soul who travelled constantly, Rimbaud had earned himself the nickname l’Homme aux semelles de vent (‘man with soles of wind’). Cleverly playing with the homophonic title l’Homme aux semelles devant (‘man with soles in front [of him]’), Ipoustéguy had Rimbaud resting upon someone’s soles, perhaps his own, as the body was split in two and time-wrapped in a peculiar machine.” (L’Homme aux semelles devant, Lil & Destinations…)