Le Puits-Fontaine by Etienne-Martin

Henri Etienne-Martin was a French non-figurative sculptor born in 1913. Before the Second World War he worked primarily in wood and plaster. After the War he extended his repertoire to include many more media, ranging from bronze to string. He won the Venice Biennale prize for sculpture in 1966 and from 1968 to 1983 was head of the sculpture department at the Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He died in 1995.

Le Puits-Fontaine, in bronze, is also known as La Maison de l'Est and sits in the courtyard of the Musée de l'Hospice Saint Roch in Issoudun. The work is number 17 of a series taking their inspiration from the house he grew up in and executed over a 30 year period in several media and ranging in size from monumental to small. Le Puits-Fontaine dates from 1981.