Wrought-iron Mirror From The Atelier De Marolles, 1950–1959

The original iron finish features a beautiful patina of age,  handcrafted mirror, reflecting Brutalist and animalistic styles, with a metal frame whose hammered pieces were manually welded, depicting a magnificent and original bestiary, accented with gilded metal representing the animals’ eyes.

Mirror from a private collection of 20th-century folk art; a few superficial spots of oxidation give it a beautiful patina.

Total height: 80 cm / without hooks: 76 cm
Width: 60.6 cm
Depth: 3 cm
Mirror frame dimensions: 28 cm x 43.5 cm
Visible mirror: 24.50 cm x 40.10 cm

Jean Touret, born in 1916 in Mayenne, was destined for a career in insurance.
Taken prisoner at the start of the war, he was sent to southern Germany, to the forested mountains of the Herzgebirge. There, he shared in the rustic life of the peasants, learned about the harshness of nature, and, as a lumberjack, discovered trees and wood, which he learned to assess, cut, and haul.
Upon his return to France, he felt unable to reintegrate into the petit bourgeois world he had known before the war. He needed to give his life a broader meaning.

Jean Touret lamented the general public’s taste for standardized furniture, manufactured from industrial materials, which disregarded traditional craftsmanship and took work away from local artisans.

He decided to create an association for the production of furniture and decorative objects with the village artisans, bringing together their respective skills: a cabinetmaker, a metalworker, a basket weaver, and later a ceramist.

• Jean Touret, artistic director, Maurice Leroy, a carpenter in Marolles, his son Emile, Henri Vion, a metalworker in Marolles, Edmond Le Flohic, a basket weaver in Marolles, Manuel Gold, potter
• 1964: Jean Touret’s departure and the group’s split