Born in Le Locle in 1920 to a German father and French mother, Jean-Pierre Schmid, known as Lermite, showed an early interest in the visual arts, as well as music. He spent most of his life in the Jura region, which deeply inspired him, as numerous paintings and drawings testify. Following his death in 1977, a foundation was set up to honor his memory and promote his work. The MBAL has been the headquarters of this foundation since its inception.
Thanks to a donation requested by Lermite himself, the museum now owns his entire body of work. In 2001, the Fondation Lermite and the museum jointly acquired over 200 pieces by the artist (large-format paintings, stained-glass projects, drawings, lithographs and other graphic works).
The 10th and 25th anniversaries of the artist’s death were honored through retrospectives organized by the museum and the foundation. In 2010, an exhibition was devoted to the genesis of one of the artist’s masterpieces: Le Calvaire brévinien, painted in 1949.
Supporting the Foundation
By becoming a friend of the Foundation, you will be helping to promote this major Jura artist and support the continuation of his exhibition and publication activities.
If you would like to become a member, or if you have any queries, please contact the foundation via MBAL at mbal@ne.ch.
Lermite hors les murs
Public squares in the canton of Neuchâtel and the city of Biel are home to numerous works by Lermite. To facilitate their discovery, the Lermite Foundation has selected ten works that can be visited according to a suggested itinerary in the Lermite hors les murs guide. The guide can be downloaded in French/German: here and in French/English : here.