by Gisèle Favre (1912 – 2007)
from the Vatikan church, Expo Brussels 1958, Blessed Sacrament Chapel 'Anointing of the Sick'
Photo: Max Schulz 2019
What is portrayed can only be sensed – it must be about something new and liberating that befalls a person. The administration of the sacrament is indicated in the laying on of hands, prayer, anointing with holy oil, priestly vestments, in figures, plants, and in the primary colors.
Agnès Rosenstiehl writes about the painting of her mother:
„In this work by Gisèle Pinsard, I see her tendency toward symbolism, far from a realism that would have led her to depict a specific illness: The Anointing of the Sick, as the title of the panel states, is represented here by a single symbolic sick person in bold red, who receives the support of the Church. He is surrounded by a shroud that seems to protect him while at the same time conveying the sense that it will become his burial cloth. The figures below, marked by red strokes, make me think of the sick and the faithful, at once compassionate and devout.“ (email message dated April 13th, 2019, translated)
Pictorial elements and decorative patterns from other works by Favre can be recognized—compare also the design of the ceramic panel 'Ehe' [Marriage] in the upper church (Jewel 18).
Together with her husband, the architect and painter Pierre Pinsard, she worked on the Vatican Pavilion in Brussels in 1958, serving as the executing artist while he acted as the architect for the church's central Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
Gisèle Favre worked mainly with ceramics. She rarely used her designs for paintings, but primarily for glazed tiles and tile surfaces, often also for private residential purposes.
Gisèle Favre at work on "Anointing of the Sick" and ceramic tiles for a kitchen.
Photos: website giselepinsard-les4potiers.fr
References:
https://giselepinsard-les4potiers.fr/biographie (2014, retrieved February 19th, 2019).
Agnès Rosenstiehl: Email message dated April 14th, 2019.
