Les Miresses 3

Les Miresses 3 – Anne Guerrin and the Sculpted Memory of Ancient Seers

With Les Miresses 3, Anne Guerrin continues her sculptural cycle dedicated to the figures of the miresses—the ancient healers, seers, and midwives whose intuitive knowledge and inner vision guided their communities. Bearers of a deep connection to the body, the seasons, and the spiritual world, these women embodied a form of ancestral wisdom. In this stoneware sculpture, the artist revives that ancient memory and translates it into a powerful, contemporary presence.

The figure’s eyes are open, yet the gaze feels introspective, carried by an inner knowing rather than directed outward. It does not scrutinize the viewer; it moves through space, imbued with silent understanding. The delicately modelled cheeks and lips seem ready to speak—perhaps to offer a fragment of story, perhaps a fragment of timeless advice. The expression balances gently between contemplation and quiet determination. This duality is what makes Les Miresses 3 so singular: the sculpture feels both grounded and ethereal, both present and timeless.

The stoneware, shaped in shades of white, grey, and ochre, gives the piece an organic, almost geological presence. Anne Guerrin harnesses the expressive potential of clay: its textures, cracks, polished zones, and vertical drips evoke erosion, rain, and the long passage of time. These material traces become part of the sculpture’s identity, echoing the marks left by long-lived traditions and generations of inherited knowledge.

The ornamentation around the bust is especially striking. A thick stoneware necklace composed of rounded elements forms a protective arc around the figure’s neck. At its center hangs a finely sculpted medallion—perhaps the emblem of a healer, perhaps a talisman of wisdom. This element gives the figure a ceremonial aura, a sense of spiritual authority. The two large rectangular earrings enhance the verticality of the face, reinforcing the sculpture’s stature and its intuitive power.

The broad, rounded hairstyle gives the character a maternal, almost mythic presence. It evokes ancient civilizations without referencing any specific culture, granting the piece a deep sense of universality. In Anne Guerrin’s work, the Miresses are not historical individuals; they are archetypes, vessels of memory.

The lower part of the bust, long and marked with striations and flowing traces, resembles a landscape. One can read abstract terrains, furrows, perhaps even pathways. This earthlike dimension, central to Guerrin’s aesthetic, creates a bond between the human figure and the forces of nature. The sculpture becomes, in itself, a territory, an archive, a silent witness.

Les Miresses 3 stands as both a powerful and soothing presence. Placed in a minimalist or contemporary interior, it acts as a point of balance—a reminder of contemplation, of inner stillness, of inherited memory. For collectors seeking a unique, expressive, and symbolically rich piece, this stoneware work is an exceptional choice.

Through Anne Guerrin’s sensitivity, the sculpture does more than depict a figure: it rekindles a tradition, carries an ancient breath, and offers an inner space to anyone who pauses before it.