Janine Janet (1913-2000), Le Roi and La Reine sculptures, France, 1959

Janine Janet trained at the Toulouse and Paris art schools. Fascinated by theatre sets, she made her debut as a dresser with Jacques Fath and Christian Dior, where she dressed their windows, inventing magical ephemeral decors. For Balenciaga, which gave her carte blanche, she created two sculptures in wood studded with nails, Le Roi and La Reine, which reveal her immoderate love of nature, the unusual and the precious.