Art: Switch in Biarritz

Switch in BiarritzThe Empress Eugenie always loved Biarritz, and Biarritz felt the same way about Eugenie. Until World War II, a bas-relief sculpture of her stood on the town’s seaside boulevard; then the Germans carted it away for scrap metal. Biarritz somehow didn’t look right without her. This spring, the city fathers signed up a 28-year-old Chilean sculptor named Juan Luis Cousino to carve a new statue. The sculptor’s advance design was perfect: a gay, wasp-waisted Eugenie in swirling crinolines. Last week the city fathers were hopping mad. They had their statue, but it wasn’t Eugenie.

Sculptor Cousino had done his carving in Italy, and brought the statue to Biarritz under heavy wraps. When the town was all set for the gala unveiling, a municipal councilman peeped under the wrappings and saw a horrifying sight: a bleak marble pyramid capped with the head of an agonizing, sphinxlike woman.

Sculptor Cousino tried vainly to explain: “It’s my conception of the Virgin, her mouth open in a stifled cry of the world’s sufferings. I started off with the usual base, then despite myself, in the grip of a driving force, my hammer hit on my chisel. It was out of control. I was forced to obey orders which were not of my own inspiration. I can’t say it’s really mine.”

Biarritz canceled the unveiling, refused to pay Cousino, and had the pyramid carted off to the city dump. But Biarritz still wants Eugenie. The city fathers are looking for another sculptor.