Mizette Putallaz & Fondation — La Voûte, Martigny

Origins & masters

A school and its figures.

From Saxon to Milan, from Sion to Santiago: a training crossing paths with the greatest masters of European modern art.

On Thursday 20 October 1949, the painter Fred Fay inaugurated the School of Fine Arts in Saxon. Mizette Putallaz would receive card number 1. Four years would follow — three in Saxon, one in Sion. Thanks to the layout class, she would design her own diploma in 1953.

The Brera Academy in Milan (1952-1954) opened her to the masters of the Trecento — Giotto and the Renaissance. Back home, the Valais Cantonal School led her through the School of Vision of Oskar Kokoschka (1955-56), then the tapestry workshop of Jean Lurçat in 1958.

He told me the figure itself wasn't important — it could be without arms or legs; what mattered was the space around the figure. So I think my faceless figures come from that period.
— Mizette Putallaz, on Oskar Kokoschka

Then came the travels that would deeply shape her palette: Chile and South America (1958-1960), Africa (1962), Paris and the sacred art studio (1963), Greece (1964-1966), Portugal (1967). In 1969 she settled in Martigny. Silver Medal of Arts, Sciences and Letters from the City of Paris in 1971.

Over there I had no canvas, no paint. To save colour I began to paint more fluidly, with less matter. That's what created my style, really. It came from need!
— Mizette Putallaz, on her time in Chile

1932

Saint-Pierre de Clages

Birth of Marie-Rose Putallaz in the wine village. Her father a winegrower, her mother encourages her drawing.

1949

No. 1 in Saxon

Fred Fay inaugurates the Cantonal School of Fine Arts in Saxon. Mizette receives student card number 1.

1952

Brera Milan

Académia di Belle Arte di Brera. Discovery of Giotto, the Italian Trecento and the Renaissance.

1953

Graduated

First graduate of the Valais Cantonal School. She designs her own diploma.

1955-56

Kokoschka

Oskar Kokoschka's "School of Vision". He teaches her that what matters is the space around the figure.

1958-60

Chile

Stay in South America. Need becomes style: paint fluid, with less matter. "It came from need!"

1969

Settles in Martigny

Permanent return. The town becomes her home base for decades to come.

1971

Silver Medal · Paris

Receives the Arts, Sciences and Letters medal of the City of Paris. International recognition.

1972

Chamoson Mosaic

Monumental work for the town hall. White birds in flight on black tesserae.

1984 & 1991

Gianadda Foundation

Two monograph catalogues by Pierre Gianadda Foundation editions. Solo exhibition in 1997.

1987–94

Heritage Switzerland Valais

President of the Valais branch. Seven years defending the canton's built heritage.

2007

Retrospective at Le Manoir

"Half a century of painting" at Le Manoir de Martigny. Catalogue prefaced by Jean Zermatten.

2025+

La Voûte & the Foundation

Creation of a living place in the Grand Maison and a foundation carrying her work into the future.

Art criticism

Jean Zermatten,
2007.

Excerpt from the introductory essay to the catalogue Half a century of painting — Mizette Putallaz, Le Manoir de Martigny, June 2007.

Mais vers quel grand silence volent les oiseaux blancs de Mizette Putallaz ? Ou encore ces choucas noirs, juste esquissés, ombres japonisantes, qui planent sur le papier sépia, geste spontané d'un pinceau magique. Mais surtout thème récurrent : colombes, pigeons, albatros, goélands, vastes oiseaux des mers, sur des fonds bleus ou blancs, comme des croix fichées dans l'azur, signes silencieux, ailes déployées, paix et méditation.
— Jean Zermatten, juin 2007

Mizette's work Putallaz se détache et dépasse de loin la seule représentation. Même si ses œuvres sont essentiellement figuratives, elles ne sont pas descriptives ou anecdotiques : elles sont porteuses de sens, signifiantes. Mizette aime les couleurs et surtout les musiques qui murmurent en douceur. Ici, il faut du calme, de l'apaisement, du silence, du sens. De la discrétion.
— Jean Zermatten, juin 2007

« Harmonie » est certainement le maître-mot. Tant les sens lorsqu'ils accrochent l'aspect représenté, que l'esprit lorsqu'il choisit de comprendre le non-visible, se retrouvent face à cette tranquillité, à cet équilibre, à cette indiscutable force esthétique, poétique et paisible. Expression et intériorisation. Poésie et Paix.
— Jean Zermatten, juin 2007

Selected works

Paintings.

A selection from the catalogues Half a century of painting (Le Manoir, 2007) and Pierre Gianadda Foundation — more than seventy years of works: oils, frescoes and mosaics.

Crocus, Mizette Putallaz, 1996 — Crocus 1996 · Huile · 195 × 113 cm Catalogue "Half a century of painting" · 2007

Triptyque — Égyptiennes, 1985 — Triptych — Egyptian Women 1985 · Huile · 3 × 182 × 82 cm Catalogue "Half a century of painting" · 2007

Triptyque — The temple guardian, 1985 — The temple guardian 1985 · Huile · 3 × 182 × 82 cm Catalogue "Half a century of painting" · 2007

Choucas, Mizette Putallaz — Jackdaws on the roof Huile · 110 × 120 cm Catalogue "Half a century of painting" · 2007

Trilogie — Fécondité, 1976 — Trilogy — Fertility 1976 · Huile · 90 × 90 cm (×3) Pierre Gianadda Foundation · 1984

Triumphant Motherhood, Chile 1961 — Triumphant Motherhood Chile 1961 · Huile · 140 × 110 cm Pierre Gianadda Foundation · 1984

Origami Boats, série en blanc et noir — Origami Boats Huile sur toile Catalogue "Half a century of painting" · 2007

Paysage toscan, champs de blé et cyprès — Tuscany Huile sur toile Catalogue "Half a century of painting" · 2007

The poet's passage, 1990 — The poet's passage 1990 · Huile · 146 × 113 cm Pierre Gianadda Foundation · 1991

Rekindled whiteness, 1991 — Rekindled whiteness 1991 · Huile · 160 × 162 cm Pierre Gianadda Foundation · 1991

Abstrait géométrique — Fusion, 1992 — Geometric Abstract — Fusion 1992 · Huile · 184 × 132 cm Catalogue "Half a century of painting" · 2007

Mosaïque de la Maison de Commune de Chamoson, 1972 — Chamoson Mosaic 1972 · Maison de Commune Monumental work

Recognition

Pierre Gianadda
Foundation.

Three appearances at the Pierre Gianadda Foundation in Martigny — Valais's major art institution and one of Switzerland's most-visited private museums — that marked Mizette Putallaz's work and inscribed it into the cantonal heritage.

Catalogues & exhibition

Three stages,
twenty years of loyalty.

The Pierre Gianadda Foundation — site of international exhibitions that has hosted Picasso, Chagall, Van Gogh, Rodin — publishes a monograph dedicated to Mizette Putallaz in 1984 and again in 1991. In 1997, the museum dedicates a solo exhibition to her.

These three appearances mark a leading institutional recognition: her oils enter the Valais artistic conversation alongside the greatest.

On screen & on air

Media.

Mizette Putallaz on radio, television, in the press.

RTS — Couleurs Locales

"An 84-year-old woman from Valais shares her journey as a painter."

Watch on RTS Play →

Aligre FM · Dialogues

Poetry and painting — Mizette Putallaz / Feu les oiseaux

Broadcast of 8 July 2023.

Listen on Aligre FM →

RTS Espace 2 · En soi et chez soi

Visit to Mizette Putallaz in her Grand'Maison

A broadcast by Daniel Fazan, produced by Samuel Morier-Genoud, aired in 2003.
"Fifty years she has been painting, and she has things to say."

Mizette
Putallaz.

A life in painting.