CESAR

born Jan. 1, 1921, Marseille, France died Dec. 5, 1998, Paris in full Csar Baldaccini French sculptor known for his compression sculptures made from compacted automobiles during the 1960s. Csar studied drawing and modeling at the cole des Beaux-Arts in Marseille and went on to study at the cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (194350). Though his early experimentation with found materials (objets trouvs) may have expressed more an economic necessity than an aesthetic impulse, he soon began to exploit street salvage to eerie and compelling effect. During the 1950s he used rusted bolts, cans, metal stripping, and other bits of scrap metal to construct stylized insects, animals, and fish. He also produced prototypes of human forms, frequently with distorted or missing body parts, as in Torso (1954). In addition to the compressions, his later work included expansions, for which he employed polyurethane, a substance that sets rapidly, to create dramatic gestural sculptures. Two of his best-known works are a 12-metre- (40-foot-) tall thumb, placed in the Parisian quarter of La Dfense, and the statuette for the French film industry awardsthe statuette and the award itself are both known as the Csar. departamento, northern Colombia, bounded on the northeast by Venezuela and on the southwest by the Magdalena River. Created in 1967, the departamento, with an area of 8,844 square miles (22,905 square km), descends from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the north and the Sierra de Perij in the northeast to the lowlands of the Magdalena River valley. It is traversed by the Csar River, a tributary of the Magdalena. Cotton, rice, and corn (maize) are the principal crops, and cattle raising is widespread. Industry centres on Valledupar (q.v.), the departmental capital, but is of less importance than agriculture. Csar is traversed north to south by the Santa MartaBogot railroad (the Atlantic Railway), and highways from Santa Marta, Ccuta, and Rohacha lead through Csar to Valledupar. Pop. (1985) 584,631.