Background Image

Suzanne Valadon

"I want to be liked by people who would never have noticed me, who linger and dream before a square of canvas where, with my colors, and are left a special feeling."

Pic

Notes of biography

Marie-Clémentine Valadon, future Suzanne Valadon, was born in 1865 in Bessines/Gartempe, France. Of an unknown father, her mother was a linen keeper. Around 1870, her mother Madeleine moves to Paris, she works there as a cleaning lady. Her daughter is disciplined and attends many schools. From 1875-1880, Marie-Clémentine carries out several ‘little jobs’ (florist, dressmaker, etc.); she is passionate for the circus and makes her debut on ‘the track’.
She becomes a painter’s model; the in the 80’s under the name of Maria, she poses for, among others, Puvis de Chavannes, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec. December 26, 1883, is the birth of her son Maurice (Maurice Utrillo), to an unknown father but who is acknowledged in 1891 by the Spanish painter and journalist Miguel Utrillo y Molinas. Her first known works date from this era.
Between 1883 and 1893, self-taught, she produces drawings (charcoal, pencil, red chalk, pastel) where one can see the influence of Degas who introduces her to engraving and who will be one of her buyers. The artist represents those who surround to her, her friends, her family, her children. She paints genre scenes and portraits in a realistic manner. The great masters quickly recognize her talent. In 1894, five of her drawings are exhibited at the National Salon.
In 1896, she marries Paul Moussis, a well-to-do bourgeoisie; the financial situation of her husband allows her to entirely dedicate herself to her art under the name of Suzanne Valadon. She produces her own proper synthesis between Fauvism and Expressionism. In 1909, she meets André Utter, a friend of her son and moves in with him after divorcing. Utter exerts upon her a stimulating influence and from 1910, she carries out numerous exhibitions (Salon d’Automne, Salon des Indépendants, etc) of which one in particular is at Berther Weil’s in 1915. Suzanne Valadon paints numerous works and the public, like the press will award her increasing attention. In 1935, she affected with diabetes and uraemia.
In 1936 and 1937, the French state buys many of her important works.
Ill, she dies in Paris in 1938.

Artists on display

The art and the artists display: proclamations, galleries, museums, personal or collective exhibitions. On walls or in shop windows, wise or rebels, posters warn, argue, show. Some were specially conceived by an artist for such or such event, other, colder, have only the letter.

Some were created in lithographic technic, most are simple offset reproductions. They are many those who like collecting these rectangles of paper, monochrome or in games of colours, in matt paper or brilliant, with many words or almost dumb.

We are happy also to be able to greet, by this pages, mythical galleries as those of Denise René, Louis Carré, Claude Bernard, Berheim Jeune, Maeght, Pierre Loeb and others.

Pic

Complete work(s)

Complete work(s)
All the complete works

Bibliographic track and more

To read about the artist :
  • « Maurice Utrillo et S. Valadon », C. Jürgen, Haus der Kunst Verlag, Munich 1960
  • « Suzanne Valadon », Jeanine Warnod, Ed. Flammarion, 1981
  • « La recherche de la vérité » Jeanne Champion, Ed Presses de la Renaissance 1984
  • « Suzanne Valadon », D. Marchesseau, Ed. Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, 1996
  • « S. Valadon ou la recherche de la vérité », J. Champion, Ed. LGF, Le Livre de Poche, 1997
  • « Mistress of Montmartre, S. Valadon », R. June, Ed. Richard Cohen Books, 1998
  • Suzanne Valadon », M. Peyramaure, Ed. Robert Laffont, coll. Pocket, 2 tomes, 1998
  • « Suzanne Valadon », M. Peyramaure, Ed. Robert Laffont, coll. Pocket, 2 tomes, 1998
  • « Suzanne Valadon », J. Champion, Ed. Fayard, coll. « Biographies Diverses », 2004
  • « Suzanne Valadon », T. Diamand Rosinsky, Ed. Flammarion, Paris, 2005
To read from the artist :
  • No books referenced.
Website :
www.artcyclopedia.com/valadon.html

More :


Art movements

+ IMPRESSIONNISM / 1855-1890 / Claude Monet, Frédéric Bazille, Berthe Morisot, Gustave Caillebotte, etc.
+ SCHOOL OF PARIS / 1945-1960 / Jean Degottex, Georges Mathieu, Nicolas de Staël, etc.
All art movements

See & discover

Beyond works currently in stock, it seemed to me useful to combine business with pleasure by letting you discover others works by artists in my gallery. These artworks, now sold or removed from our website, have been in our stock in the past.

These pages will undoubtedly make it possible for some of you to associate an image with its title or the other way round, for others it will be a good time to discover more on such and such artist. For the sake of confidentiality – the pieces being no longer available – we won't display neither their numbering or their price. For whatever reason, make sure to visit this amazing art database with to date 6441 online works just for your pleasure! Michelle Champetier

See & discover