The artistic process

The statue Phryné (1892) by Emmanuel Hannaux, in the Musée de Metz, symbolizes the harmony between beauty and truth. Phryné, a hetaera living in Athens in the 4th century B.C., is about to be condemned, and is defended by an orator who, having exhausted his arguments before the judge, ends up tearing off her tunic; she is acquitted thanks to her beauty. From the front and back, Phryne is chosen to symbolize both beauty in art and biodiversity, both of which are disappearing, “swallowed up” by our society. The two-tone fish, striped like prisoners, swim in shoals. Art and nature reunited at the bottom of the ocean, in the land of Neptune. It’s up to us to fish out Phryne!