Nicole Farhi was born in Nice, France into a Sephardic Jewish family from Turkey in 1946. In 1973, she moved to London and began a successful career in fashion design and in 1985, while casting her first bronze at the Royal College of Art foundry, Farhi met sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi, who became her mentor and close friend until his death. However, it was only in 2010, after the sale of her label, that she could devote herself entirely to sculpture. She is best known for her portrait busts of prominent personalities, including Anglo-American literary figures such as Philip Roth, James Baldwin, and Doris Lessing.
Sculptor and fashion designer, Nicole Farhi was born in Nice, France into a Sephardic Jewish family from Turkey on 25 July 1946. Her mother had lived in France since childhood, while her father immigrated there in his early twenties, seeking refuge from Ataturk's regime. While Farhi was brought up speaking French, her parents spoke Ladino at home, a Spanish dialect traditionally used by Sephardic Jews. Farhi grew up in Nice and on the Côte d’Azur, where her father had a business selling rugs and lighting. Her grandfather, a prominent figure in the Jewish community, narrowly avoided arrest during the Nazi occupation in 1943. As a teenager, Farhi took painting lessons after her studies at the Nice lycée. Using a heavy impasto technique, and laying on colour with a palette knife, it later became clear that her enjoyment of manipulating malleable materials suggested a preference for three-dimensional work rather than two-dimensional. In 1967, she relocated to Paris to pursue fashion design and also enrolled in life drawing classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
In 1973, Farhi moved to London and began a successful career in fashion design. She established her eponymous clothing line with her partner at the time, Stephen Marks, in 1982, with the backing of his company, French Connection. She gained significant recognition, winning the British Fashion Award for Best Contemporary Designer for three consecutive years (1995–97). In the 1980s, Farhi was introduced to Jean Gibson, a member of the artist-led London Group, who became an inspirational mentor. Farhi later recalled Gibson providing her with clay and asking her to sculpt a torso, stating, 'I’ll only take you if you have something to say – otherwise, it’s a waste of time' (Canwood Gallery). Farhi subsequently attended Gibson's evening courses, where she learned to cast in ciment fondu. During this period, she crafted earthy female torsos from clay, reminiscent of Neolithic sculptures. In 1985, while casting her first bronze at the Royal College of Art foundry, Farhi encountered Head of Sculpture, Eduardo Paolozzi, who became her mentor and close friend until his death. Paolozzi encouraged Farhi to experiment with various materials such as plaster and wax, but she quickly recognised her affinity for clay. She would later create a series of sculptures representing the strong hands of Paolozzi and imagined portraits of him. Farhi acknowledged Paolozzi's influence by saying, 'he is in my soul, I still hear him. […] He played a critical role – not by dictating my actions, but by broadening my perspective. And he never offered criticism, his teachings were all about enabling me to express myself’ (Long 2019).
For more than three decades, Farhi balanced her sculpting pursuits with her fashion career. It was only in 2010, after selling her label, that she could devote herself entirely to her art. She is now best known for portrait busts and sculptures, noted for their ‘presence, energy in abundance, the sense of the animalesque, tenderness and humanity’ (Gadney 2019). Her very first bust was of Oscar Wilde, made as a gift to her playwright husband, Sir David Hare, to celebrate the revival of his play The Judas Kiss in 2012. Farhi's first gallery exhibition, featuring busts of eminent figures such as Dame Judi Dench, Helena Bonham Carter, Anna Wintour, and Paolozzi, was showcased at Bowman Sculpture, London in 2015. Among her subsequent portraits are images of Anglo-American literary figures, such as Philip Roth, James Baldwin, and Doris Lessing. Several other personalities echo Farhi’s French origins: Frangoise Sagan, Jean Cocteau, Albert Camus, and Simone De Beauvoir. In the past few years, Farhi has crafted pieces inspired by Rubenesque flesh, celebrating voluptuous beauty. The series, known as Folds, originated from plaster casts of her models, which were subsequently transformed into jesmonite and bronze sculptures. This method enabled her to create lifelike fragments capturing details of the flesh. In 2019 she presented The Human Hand at London's Beaux Arts, exploring connections with friends and family by portraying their hands, ranging from those of her 100-year old mother to a baby. Farhi's other solo shows have included the Fine Art Society, Edinburgh and Canwood Gallery (both 2019). Recently, Farhi participated in the Good Company series of exhibitions hosted by the Harley Foundation (2023). In this, she and her friend, sculptor Lucille Lewin (formerly founder of women's fashion brand, Whistles) were invited to mount their own shows. Farhi’s exhibition, titled Heads, displayed over 100 hand-painted miniatures of 20th-century novelists and playwrights, alongside key figures from 20th-century women's liberation.
Farhi is a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors (RBS). She was made a CBE by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, in 2007 for her contribution to the British fashion industry. In 2010, France honoured her with the Légion d'Honneur. Nicole Farhi lives in Hampstead, London, England with her second husband, distinguished playwright, Sir David Hare, whom she met in the early 1990s. In the UK public domain her portrait of Thomas Gainsborough is held in Gainsborough's House, Sudbury, Suffolk.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Nicole Farhi ]
Publications related to [Nicole Farhi ] in the Ben Uri Library