Woman

Artist

Model

Suzanne Valadon was born in 1865 at

Bessines-sur-Gartempe, an illegitimate

daughter of a French laundress. She

became an artists' model, posing for such

artists as Pierre Puvis de Chavannes,

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and

Renoir.Mingling with the Impressionists in

the clubs and cabarets of Montmartre,

where she caused a sensation with her

provocative stunts, Suzanne took

numerous lovers. At eighteen she gave

birth to an illegitimate son, the future artist

Maurice Utrillo. Valadon soon took interest

in painting. She observed the techniques

of the artists for whom she was posing and

began creating her own paintings. Among

the artists she knew were van Gogh,

Gauguin, Picasso and Modigliani.

With her son, the famous painter

Maurice Utrillo, born Maurice

Valladon

Family portrait, c. 1910.

Utter, Valladon, Utter’s

mother and Maurice

Utrillo

Mother Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) and son Maurice Utrillo, born Maurice Valadon

(1883-1955)

From age nine

Suzanne supported

herself by doing odd

jobs. One was as a

circus acrobat. She did

it until she fell off the

trapeze when she was

sixteen.

The Violin

Box, 1923

Suzanne Valadon painted

still-lifes, floral art, and

landscapes that were noted

for their strong composition

and vibrant colors. Her first

exhibitions in the early 1890s

consisted mainly of portraits,

among them one of Erik

Satie with whom she began

an affair in 1893.

Portrait of Composer Erik Satie

c.1892

Portrait of Lily Walton

1923

Portrait of Mme

Zamaron 1922

Geneviève Camax-

Zoegger, 1936

Portrait of Madame Coquiot

1918

Femme allongée sur un canapé

Even if Valadon received

no formal art training, she

was able (through her

close associations with

prominent artists) to

develop a re-gendering of

women's bodies and

strength. The self-

absorption and vitality of

her subjects, for instance,

are in stark opposition to

the essential passivity of

females nudes that had

until then been the

traditional manner of

representing

womanhood.

The abandoned doll

This painting exhibits all

the characteristics of

Valadon's mature work:

brightly colored forms

defined by heavy, dark

outlines; strange,

somewhat awkward

poses; and deliberately

simplified, distorted

anatomy and space.

Reclining Nude on a Sofa , 1928

Nudes

(1919).

(MASP, São

Paulo).

Nu assis sur un

divan 1922

Le lancement du filet ,1914

Adam and Eve, modeled

on Valadon and her

young lover

In 1906, her son

Maurice introduced

to her his friend

André Utter. By that

time she was

married to

stockbroker Paul

Mousis, whom she

had married in 1896.

She fell in love with

André Utter, na artist

21 years younger

than her, who

became the love of

her life

Self portrait, 1927

Portrait de Utrillo 1921

La femme aux

bas blancs 1924

Woman with

a Double

Bass 1914

Montocorin farm

L’aulne dans la

prairie - 1922

Houses on the countryside -1916

View from My

Window in

Genets

(Brittany)

1922

Portrait of Maurice Utrillo

(1883-1955), his

Grandmother and his Dog,

1910

The Blue Room

Young Girl sitting on a

low wall -1930

Marie Coca and her

Daughter

The Bath, 1905

A strikingly beautiful

girl, she found work

as an artists' model

and used the

opportunity to

observe and learn

the artists'

techniques. She

modeled for such

greats as Edgar

Degas, Henri de

Toulouse-Lautrec,

Pierre-Auguste

Renoir

and Pierre Puvis

de Chavannes, all

of whom would

have an affair with

her. She haunted

the sleazy bars of

Paris with the men

and in 1889

Toulouse-Lautrec

would paint a

famous portrait of

her titled: "The

Hangover” (La

Buveuse).

Toulouse Lautrec, The Drinker c. 1888

Toulouse Lautrec, La Buveuse 1889

Pierre Renoir – Umbrellas.

Model: Suzanne Valadon

Renoir, Girl Braiding

Her Hair

Renoir,

Danse à

Bougival

Steinlen,

Portrait of

Suzanne

Valadon

Renoir, Portrait

Suzanne

Valadon by

Henri de

Toulouse-

Lautrec. 1886-

87

Toulouse Lautrec,

The Laundry Worker

Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre

(1824-98) Untitled painting of

Suzanne Valadon 1880

Amedeo

Modigliani, “Portrait

de Suzanne

Valadon”

Marcel Leprin (1891-1933) Suzanne

Valadon and her Cat

T-A Steinlen, Portrait de Suzanne Valadon

,

T-A Steinlen, Suzanne Valadon (vue en

contre-plongée), 1896.

André Utter, Suzanne

Valadon Combing

Herself

Utrillo, Portrait of Suzanne Valadon

In 1890 she became

friends with painter Edgar

Degas. After seeing

some of Valadon's work,

Degas encouraged her

efforts to become an

artist, buying some of her

pieces and helping her

get her career started.

Due to encouragement

from Degas, in 1894

Valadon became the first

woman to show at the

Société Nationale des

Beaux-Arts, a major

French artistic

accomplishment.

Edgar Degas -Le Tab model Suzanne Valadon

the character of

Suzanne Rouvier in

Somerset

Maugham’s The

Razor’s Edge.

When she died ,

many notables from

the Parisian art

community came to

her funeral,

including Pablo

Picasso, Georges

Braque and André

Derain. Suzanne

was buried in Paris.

Suzanne Valadon

died in 1938. Her art

continues to generate

interest as time

passes and is

significantly

represented in

collections of The

Cleveland Museum of

Art, The Art Institute

of Chicago, The

National Museum of

Women in the Arts

and Paris’ Centre

Pompidou. The

intensity of Suzanne’s

palette

matched the passion

of her actions and

emotions, just like her

ability to go from

model to peer among

painters reflected her

self-determination

and resilience. Her

free-spirited ways

have inspired novels,

biographies and films,

and she was even the

,likely basis for

Self portrait

« Que des hommes

m’aient aimée, soit.

Mais je veux être aimée

des hommes qui ne

m’auront jamais vue, qui

demeureront à rêver et

à m’imaginer devant un

carré de toile où, avec

mes couleurs, j’aurai

laissée un peu de mon

âme »

Suzanne Valadon

1/28/2012