Suzanne Valadon: September/23/1865 - April/7/1938
Marie-Clémentine “Suzanne” Valadon was born in Bessines-sur-Gartempe, France, to an unmarried laundress, which ultimately lead to a childhood spent in poverty. Valadon began working at the age of 11. She held many jobs throughout her earlier years, including a fruit seller in markets, working at a factory for funerary wreaths, working in millinery shops, and at the age of 18 as she worked as a trapeze performer. After one year of performing in a circus, Valadon suffered a fall, which lead her from performing to modeling.
Living and working in Montmartre, Valadon modeled for many of the famous avant-guard artists at the time, including, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Théophile Steinlen, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. As Valadon’s reputation as a model grew in the Impressionists artist circle, she picked up techniques after sitting for artists. She became a pupil of both Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas and both were incredibly impressed with her artwork. Valadon and Degas became close friends until his death in 1917, and was one of the first people to buy her artwork.
Valadon’s style was very unique from her contemporaries. She favored bold colors and harsh outlines. Her subjects were often nude women, a very unusual subject for women artists at the time. Her paintings were very intimate and unidealized. The gaze that is present in her works never leans toward an unwanted male gaze, the sexuality that is present is very much self possessed of the models. Her works have very conscious compositions that let the viewer see only what is presented, there is no playful and coyness to her works that was often found in nude paintings at the time.
Valadon rose to fame in the 1920s, and created art throughout her life. She has had four major retrospectives during her lifetime. She created nearly 500 paintings, over 250 drawings, and 31 etchings not including artwork that has been destroyed or lost over the years.
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