POINÇONS & MÉDAILLONS

Gyn Gausserand (1932-2018) applied for emancipation at the age of sixteen to train as a potter at the Fontcarrade school in Montpellier. It was there that she met Robert Auguste, ten years her senior, with whom she would share her life and studio for over forty years. Her “imperative relationship” with clay took many forms: decorating panels and large jars, designing sculptures in modern geometric forms, utilitarian tableware sets and more. Her output has been considerable. Parallel to all these creations, from the very beginning of her practice until her death four years ago, she made punches to mark medallions in glazed or unglazed clay, sometimes only partially. Always very poetically, they depict abstract compositions, astral themes, animals, a wilted sunflower, a woman lying in the grass holding a bird, a bicycle ride, or a figure pouring a glass of gin.