René Guinand [attr. To]. Design For The Decor Of The Collège Moderne In Geneva. 1950. Two Drawings.

Graphite, watercolor, and gouache. Rolled sheets. Pinholes at the corners. Illegible stamp on the back. The Collège Moderne de Genève was a municipal school established by the 1886 law on public education in Geneva and vocational schools for boys aged 13 to 15. The school opened in September 1886 in a building on Rue de la Prairie and did not take its name Collège Moderne until 1934. In 1950, the school moved to a former college of the secondary and higher school for girls on Rue d'Italie. The drawings we present are a decorative project as part of this new installation. The Collège Moderne would close its doors twenty years later, in 1971, with the institution of the orientation cycle. a) "Jeunes Gens". 72.2 x 88.8 cm. The left edge and the lower right corner are blackened. Top right: "2A" (in a circle) and "Collège Moderne, rue d'Italie, Escalier, wall on the left, Scale 1:10, Départ. travaux publics, Genève, January 1950". The title is given at the bottom right; in the left part is indicated the location of a radiator. The dimensions are specified: 7.50 wide, 5.60 high on the left and 4.25 high on the right. b) Variant, untitled. 66.8 x 84.2 cm. René Guinand was a Swiss painter born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1892 and died in Thônex in 1983. He also worked in lithography. "He worked in Geneva and received prizes at the Calame, Diday and Gillet-Brez competitions. He appeared at the Swiss Exhibitions with landscapes, flower paintings, portraits and figure compositions. The Geneva Museum owns some of these works. Particularly appreciated for its views of the Geneva suburbs. (Bénézit, IV, 510). The attribution is given by a pencil note on the back of the drawing [a]. Ref. A13-91