CHILDHOOD

Martine Bivort is a European artist, born in the capital of Belgium, Brussels.).

She grew up near the Genval Lake, in the countryside of Wallonia, where she learntto appreciate the
colours and the nature that inspire her. Everything in the countryside inspired her, animals especially:
very young she began to draw the gracious equestrian curves of the horses she admired and dreamt of.

Thus, her passion for horses appeared at a very early age, and has never ceased to play a central part
in her artistic research.

From her childhood filled with animals and drawings, a greatly cherished character emerges, of whom she has many
fond memories, Françoise Vernieuwe. This enthusiastic teacher introduced her to the delights of creation and art,
during her drawing lessons. She explored various disciplines through mosaics, still lives, expressionist paintings
and sketches.

Martine Bivort’s artistic universe (mirror or reflection of her teacher’s) was nourished by her visits to the
Tervuren Museum and by the African art in Brussels, and was enriched by the museum’s many animal representations.
During her school years, her love and passion for nature and animals thrive : all her books are covered in sketches
of horses, that are curved, powerful, noble, Lipizzian, with strong and determined necks. She has books from
the Flamme and Black Stallion collections.


STUDIES

After secondary school, Martine Bivort hesitates between various courses able to sustain her need for knowledge,
her passion for horses and her artistic research. After toying with the idea of architecture, she finally decided to
follow the rigorous veterinary course at the University of Louvain La Neuve, then at the veterinary faculty
of Lièges at Cureghem.

She graduated after brilliant studies that enabled her to gain an interest for physics, anatomy, genetics and research.
However, even her passion for her professional work and the sciences could not deter her from her artistic needs.
The years spent studying convinced her that rigour, hard work and good knowledge of horses’ anatomy could help
her apply accuracy to her creative will.

This demanding academic curriculum, excellent for gaining accurate knowledge in animal anatomy, allowed the artist
to emerge and refine her artistic expression. Later she met her husband, also a veterinary doctor, with whom she now
has two children, Sandrine, born in 1990 and Thibaut, in 1995.


PROFESSIONNAL CURRICULUM

Her broadminded enthusiasm for the European Community led her to leave Belgium and set up her veterinary practice
in the south of France. As the artist discovered the Luberon region and its beautiful countryside, she was also able
to expand her artistic passion. Indeed, in Provence, she encountered one of the rarest and most beautiful breed
of horses: the Spanish thoroughbred.

The broad neck, the muscular breast, the finely sculpted head , the flowing mane, the noble character, the fiery spirit
and the harmonious movements create one of the most fascinating animals, in the eyes of the artist.

Until 2001, Martine Bivort practiced as a veterinary doctor in the south of France, with great enthusiasm for her work.
However, that year was a turning point for her career and her family life. Indeed, continually divided between her
professional life, her children and her artistic passion (a passion she could not devote herself to through lack of time
and energy), she finally came to the decision to give up her practice and devote herself entirely to her
artistic passion and zeal.


WORK

The methods and inspirations of the artist are numerous and reflect her eclectic environment:

• Drawings: sketches with graphite pencils, with the more impulsive and spontaneous red chalk method.
These lead the artist to master a style that foreshadowed her later sculpted work.

• Oil Paintings: still lives, impressionist paintings strongly inspired by the circus, after she encountered the
Alexis Grüss circus, during its performance at the Archevêche court, at Avignon, in the 90’s.

• Sculpture : Once she was able to fuel her creative energy again, with the many sketches and paintings she had done
over the years, Martine Bivort could at last devote her time to what she loved most: animal bronzes.
She rapidly discards working with clay and earth, to devote herself to the wax method and obtains the aesthetics
and the remarkable creations one can acquire through this method.

The soul and strength of the horses permeate the wax. The artists gives the bronze sculptures an intense emotion,
that emphasises the horses’ might.

Martine Bivort’s creative work reveals not only her aesthetic talent but also a harmony between her research for
perfection in the horses’ anatomy and the freedom and zeal that she allows to transpire trough her work.

Her artistic drive is a gift to the raw material and a praise to the beauty of horses.

Strength and expression characterize all of Martine Bivort’s creat.