The Metamorphosis of Form To look at the work of Germaine Richier is to witness the deliberate dismantling of the human figure. She did not merely sculpt; she mutated. While her early training in Montpellier and later under Antoine Bourdelle provided a foundation in classical technique, she quickly abandoned the polished stability of her predecessors. By the time she moved to Paris in 1926, the goal was no longer to replicate life, but to capture its disintegration. Her surfaces are not smooth; they are pitted, shredded, and gnawed, reflecting a profound shift from the anatomical precision o…