Jan and Joël Martel, twin brothers, were among the most representative Art-Déco sculptors that France produced. The favorite sculptors of the architect Mallet-Stevens, their cubist trees in cement were part of the emblematic images of the great Exposition des Arts Décoratifs of 1925. The art critic Waldemar Georges wrote: If cubism is their point of departure, they have brought its sources up to date. Figurative artists whose images integrated the Golden Mean in their proportions, they were essential players in the avant-garde movements of their time: Constructivism, Neoplasticism.

Woman with a Rose is a characteristic example of the simplification and ‘geometricization’ of the sculptural surface that took place after the First World War, and which held place stylistically for the decades which succeeded. It was exhibited at the inaugural exhibition of the Union des Artistes Modernes, a prestigious organisation founded by Mallet Stevens, René Herbst, Raymond Templier and the Martel brothers. The sculptors in this group included not only the Martels, but Csaky, Miklos, Lamber-Rucki, Béothy, Orloff and Henri Laurens.

Museums: Museum of Modern Art, Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Musée de Saint-Etienne, Musée de Roubaix, Musée de Mont de Marsan, Musée de Boulogne Bilancourt, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Guggenheim Museum, New York, Chicago Art Institute, The Tate Gallery, London…                                                               Exhibits: 1^st Salon of the U.A.M. (Union des Artistes Modernes), Paris 1930 / Les Années U.A.M., 1929-1958 / Salon des Indépendants, Paris, 1932 / Travelling exhibition of the Musicalistes, 1936, Holland and Eastern Europe / International Exposition of Sacred Art, Geneva, 1938 / Art in the 1930’s in France, Musée de Saint-Etienne, 1979 / Mallet- Stevens, Paris, 1986 / The Era of the Builders – 1920-1940, Boulogne Bilancourt, 1993.