To this day, we have very little information about Louis Henri Grognuz (1875-1952). Treated at Cery psychiatric asylum* near Lausanne from 1913 onwards, he only left the institution when he was transferred to La Rosière asylum in Gimel-sur-Morges, which cared for chronic patients, one year before his death.

Grognuz wrote texts and letters in ink, which he addressed to Swiss political organisations, the Swiss Federal Assembly, and various historical figures, such as ‘Princess Mary of Lancaster’, an English baroness from the fourteenth century. He also wrote invitations to the canton of Vaud’s Grand Council, in which he invited deputies to attend lectures on various subjects that he proposed to give. A notebook reveals another facet of his work: Grognuz also made meticulously executed drawings in graphite pencil, depicting landscapes, cadastral maps, military charts supplemented by combat vehicles, and scenes of collective life involving soldiers. His compositions are often accompanied by descriptive texts, sometimes resembling scripts for war films.