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SUZANNE VALADON, 'TERRIBLE MARIA' Rebellious and ambitious, coquette and diablesse, independent and provoking, Suzanne Valadon (her pseudonym for Marie-Clémentine Valadon) was one of her fellow artists' favorite muse and yet she successfully strived her way through her own artistic career, restituting women's position within the conventional male-dominated art world. Born in a poor village in the Limousin in 1865 from an unknown father, Valadon was an undisciplined yet precocious child. After her short studies, she worked in the circus world when she was 15 years old. Her striking voluptuous beauty inspired Puvis de Chavannes to employ her as his model for almost seven years. She also posed for Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Henner, Federico Zandomeneghi and for the sculptor Albert Bartolomé. Valadon had many flirtatious adventures with these artists and others such as Eric Satie, Paul Mousis and Miquel Utrillo. The latter accepted the paternal role for Valadon's only child Maurice, born in 1883, whose father's identity was unknown. His mother dedicated much of her life to encourage him to become an artist and to keep him away from falling into alcoholism. Model and mistress, Valadon was thus part of the Parisian artistic circle, where she met Edgar Degas in the early 1890s. She denied having posed for Degas and being his mistress, yet she claimed to have been Degas' only disciple and his most precious confidant. Her encounter with Degas incited her to become an artist, as Degas encouraged her and introduced her to the art world. In 1894, Valadon exhibited her first works at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts du Champ de Mars, being the only woman admitted. Her early works are much inspired by Toulouse-Lautrec and Puvis de Chavannes, yet Degas remained her main model, in terms of technique and subject matter. The next six lots (lots 128-133) are examples of Valadon's early works, depicting Degas-like subjects of young women à la toilette, combing their hair or dressing up, often set in an intimate, timeless, bourgeois interior. A vibrant emotion emerges from these exclusive drawings, in the female artist's human compassion and her sisterly observation of her models. Valadon aims to open the viewer's eyes to the grace and grandeur of ordinary life, celebrating her humble servants as day-to-day heroines. PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938)

Jeune fille nue assise s'essuyant le pied

Details

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938)
Jeune fille nue assise s'essuyant le pied
signed 'Suzanne Valadon' (lower left)
black crayon and pencil on paper
9½ x 7 7/8 in. (24 x 19.8 cm.)
Drawn circa 1904

Provenance

Acquired by the mother of the present owner in the early 1950s, and thence by descent.

Literature

P. Pétridès, L'Oeuvre Complet de Suzanne Valadon, Paris, 1971, no. D107 (illustrated).

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Pétridès, Suzanne Valadon, Dessins - Pastels, June - July 1962, no. 44.

Special Notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

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