Ref.03131
Diana, enamel by Jeanne Lemerle

The figure of Diana, standing, fills the length of the painting. Totally nude, she leans on a rock, upon which her towel is thrown; the sway of her hips creates a curved line breaking the rigidity of the vertical format. She holds her bow in her left hand, has a moon crescent on her forehead and one of her dogs at her side.For this painting, Jeanne Lemerle chose the theme of Diana resting in a wild rocky landscape, through which water flows. The proximity of the water and her total nudity implies she is about to bathe, or just has. The title of the painting first comes as a surprise because besides the dog, the discreet bow and half moon, no other elements indicate Diana’s hunter identity. As she did with her Daphnis and Chloe painting, Jeanne Lemerle was fond of reinterpreting classical themes.Exhibited at the Salon de Beaux Arts of 1909, along with an enamel portrait, this piece testifies to Jeanne Lemerle’s participation in the artistic life of her times, three years after she was married and had left her father’s workshop.

Ref.13864
Pair of cast-iron garden vases

Ref.14166
Bronze cup decorated with a boxing match

This bowl depicting a boxing match was made in the first half of the 20th century. Above a marble base, the bowl stands on a foot decorated with classical gadroons and garlands, in contrast to the scene inside the bowl, which is in the Art Deco style. Two boxers are fighting, one coming forward to punch the other in the face, the other receiving the blow. The posture of the antagonists shows that the artist was well versed in the movements of the sport.

Ref.15652
Willy Guhl, Pair of Fibre Cement Urn-Shaped Planters, 1950s-1960s

This pair of planters is a fibre cement model designed in the 1950s and 1960s by Willy Guhl (1915-2004). These elegant planters are grey – leaning towards blue – with a patina resulting from natural ageing outdoors. Shaped like urns, they are decorated with three crests: at the base, at the mouth and on the widest part of the body. The base features an inventory number and a drainage hole. Willy Guhl is a pioneer of Swiss industrial design. Eternit, a fibre cement developed for roofs and pipes, appealed to Willy Guhl because of its fibrous texture, which resists traction, breakage and climatic variations. According to him, “no construction material used so finely gives as much stability as Eternit”. "Willy Guhl was an inventor, an experimenter, a researcher and a visionary. Despite this, he did not lose himself in utopia. He was pragmatic to the point of genius", Robert Haussman. Willy Guhl is one of those historic designers who have contributed to the international reputation of Swiss design. He is one of the great exponents of Neo-Functionalism. His father was a carpenter, and he trained as a cabinetmaker at Zurich's Kunstgewerbeschule – the Zurich School of Applied Arts, where he also taught from 1941 – before becoming head of the interior design department 10 years later. At the end of the 1940s, he carried out pioneering research into plastic furniture. He developed a knowledge of moulding techniques that would enable him to reveal himself by transposing them to a new material: Eternit, also known as fibre cement, which he was one of the first to use in Europe. Eternit is a type of asbestos-reinforced cement with a fibrous texture that can be used to create bold new shapes. It takes the form of large slabs that can be shaped until they are dry. Originally produced for industrial use, it is both very inexpensive and extremely hard-wearing, making it perfectly suited to the manufacture of outdoor furniture.