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The Muse of Montmartre
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Message
Posted
Thanks to all for having a look. I didn't know her either Jenny. Like others I assume, I've built up an archive of art that I like. Annoyingly, sometimes when you find a painting you like there's very little info with it, occasionally not even the artist's name. Then I found a website that gave masses of info, including the names of the models the artist used. I was surprised how often Suzanne Valadon's name came up as the model for some of my favourite artists. So I looked her up, and there it all was.
I like her work, and prefer it to her more famous son's (Utrillo), but, for me, it doesn't have the wow factor I get from the artists she knew.
Posted
I should perhaps have recognised her name. I’ve had a Fontana pocket library book on Utrillo since my schooldays and in the introduction it talks about his mother and his early life. (Not sure I actually read the book, he wasn’t one of my favourite artists. I also had similar books on Rousseau and Gaugin, who were two firm favourites.)
Edited
by Jenny Harris
Posted
That's interesting Jenny, it confirms much of what I read about her 10 years or more ago. A quick search on google shows there's even more info on her now. Apparently she's something of an icon for single mothers, and women who forged ahead in a man's world.
I saw your painting Peter. Great. Let me update this record and add Peter Smith to the long list of artists who've painted Suzanne Valadon.
As a sidebar to this thread I came across info on other models who posed for famous artists at this time. The internet has a tendency to send you off in all directions if you're not careful.
First....the young woman who posed for Manet as the barmaid in his famous painting 'A bar at the Folie Bergère.' One of my all-time favourite paintings. Manet often sketched at the Folie Bergère, and the girl WAS a barmaid there. He hired her to pose for him in his studio wearing her barmaid outfit. The press and art critics (who didn't like Manet) slammed this poor girl, calling her a trollop and worse. In fact she was a perfectly respectable young woman, who insisted on her fiancé chaperoning her all the time she was in his studio. The gutter press...sadly nothing new.
Secondly...Victorine Meurent...Manet's favourite model. She posed for many of his most famous paintings, often nude. As in Olympia below....
Manet had had the affrontery to paint an obvious MODERN young woman in the nude. The press and art world were appalled, despite having exhibitions crammed to the rooftops with nudes every year in their big exhibitions. But these were all historical nudes.
The press dubbed Victorine, the model, as an alcoholic sex worker and beggar, who died an early death due to her vices.
In fact, she too was an artist. Manet had helped and encouraged her. She preferred the more old fashioned style of art, and got her paintings exhibited in the stodgy Grand Exhibitions before Manet finally managed to gain acceptance. She went on to earn her living as a full time artist and lived to the age of 83. Oddly only one of her paintings is known to exist....here it is...
We have to remember French suffered through two world wars and much art was lost. But there will be some of her work out there somewhere.
Manet had had the affrontery to paint an obvious MODERN young woman in the nude. The press and art world were appalled, despite having exhibitions crammed to the rooftops with nudes every year in their big exhibitions. But these were all historical nudes.
The press dubbed Victorine, the model, as an alcoholic sex worker and beggar, who died an early death due to her vices.
In fact, she too was an artist. Manet had helped and encouraged her. She preferred the more old fashioned style of art, and got her paintings exhibited in the stodgy Grand Exhibitions before Manet finally managed to gain acceptance. She went on to earn her living as a full time artist and lived to the age of 83. Oddly only one of her paintings is known to exist....here it is...
We have to remember French suffered through two world wars and much art was lost. But there will be some of her work out there somewhere.
Edited
by Lewis Cooper
Posted
Yes Peter, I think not only her hair but her appearance changes in many of the paintings. Dye explains the hair colour, as for the rest, maybe some of the time the artists weren't after an exact likeness. Here's more by Renoir...
...whilst similar, these could be three different women. But these are not commissioned portraits, they are Renoir practicing his art. He was selling his work at this time, and paintings of attractive women always sell. My opinion, of course, they may just be not very good likenesses.
...whilst similar, these could be three different women. But these are not commissioned portraits, they are Renoir practicing his art. He was selling his work at this time, and paintings of attractive women always sell. My opinion, of course, they may just be not very good likenesses.Edited
by Lewis Cooper
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