Background
Marie Laurencin was born on October 31, 1883, in Paris, France. She was a daughter of Pauline Mélanie Laurencin, a seamstress, and an illegitimate child of Alfred Toulet, a French politician.
1913
Marie Laurencin and Guillaume Apollinaire (standing)
1924
Marie Laurencin. Photo by Dora Kallmus/ullstein bild.
1932
Marie Laurencin in her studio. Photo from the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (National Library of France).
1949
Marie Laurencin. Photo by Carl Van Vechten Collection.
Marie Laurencin
Marie Laurencin
Marie Laurencin in about 1912
Marie Laurencin
Marie Laurencin
Marie Laurencin in about 1927. Photo by Dora Kallmus/ullstein bild.
Marie Laurencin in about 1915. Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis.
Marie Laurencin working at easel in her studio. Photo by Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Marie Laurencin working at easel in her studio. Photo by Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Marie Laurencin at work in her studio. Photo by Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Marie Laurencin in her studio. Photo by Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection.
121 Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière, 75009 Paris, France
Marie Laurencin received her diploma at the Lycée Lamartine in 1901.
illustrator painter printmaker Stage designer
Marie Laurencin was born on October 31, 1883, in Paris, France. She was a daughter of Pauline Mélanie Laurencin, a seamstress, and an illegitimate child of Alfred Toulet, a French politician.
A retarded pupil, Marie Laurencin enjoyed drawing and collecting portraits of European queens in her childhood. Raised by her mother, she revealed the identity of her father only at the age of 21.
Marie Laurencin received her diploma at the Lycée Lamartine in 1901. Against the wish of her mother who expected her daughter to become a teacher, Marie enrolled at the École de Sèvres (School of Sèvres) that same year where she studied porcelain painting under Pauline Lambert for several years. Simultaneously, Laurencin learned engraving on drawing courses of Eugène Quignolot and also took lessons from Madeleine Lemaire, an independent painter who introduced her to the brush technique used in floral painting.
From 1903 to 1904, Marie Laurencin studied drawing, painting and printmaking at the Parisian Humbert Academy. Francis Picabia, Georges Lepape and Georges Braque, her classmates, became the first admirers of her art, mainly represented by self-portraits at the time.
Marie Laurencin's early works, including the illustrations for Pierre Louÿs's The Songs of Bilitis, were much influenced by Natalie Barney's famous neo-Sapphic gatherings, where she was a frequent guest in the early 1900s. The first solo show of Laurencin was organized in 1907 within the Indépendants, at the Gallery Clovis Sagot in Montmartre.
Laurencin became closely associated with the art group Bateau-Lavoir through Picasso's open studio at 13 Rue Ravignan in Montmartre which she regularly attended at the time. She got acquainted there with Max Jacob, André Salmon, André Derain and Gertrude Stein, who was the first to purchase her painting in 1908.
Under the influence of Cubists, Laurencin adopted a palette consisting primarily of grey, pink and pastel hues in 1910. The artist's works were accepted to the Maison Cubiste a year later, and for the next two years, Laurencin took part in the Section d'Or exhibition at Galerie Boëtie, Paris, and in the Armory Show, New York City. Her cooperation with Cubism ended after the break-up with Apollinaire in 1914.
Marie Laurencin fled to Spain with her husband at the outbreak of World War I. While in the country, Laurencin collaborated with the local Dada movement, assisting Francis Picabia in editing of 391. She discovered the art of Francisco Goya and met Sonia Delaunay and Robert Delaunay.
Laurencin came back to Paris in 1920. She distanced herself stronger than before the war from the artistic trends widespread at the time. Instead, the artist adopted softer color palette and concentrated on pastel portraits featuring women and dogs, with which she is now mostly associated. Paul Rosenberg became her art dealer during this period.
In addition to portraiture, Maries Laurencin tried herself in design and illustration after the war. She elaborated designs for André Groult's wallpaper and textiles, produced scenery and costumes for the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, shown in Paris, Monte Carlo, Berlin and London in 1924, and contributed to the French Embassy Pavilion at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes the following year. She illustrated several books, including a 1930 edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, and Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party. Besides, Laurencin gave lessons at Amédée Ozenfant's open studio on an informal basis.
Laurencin's reputation as an accomplished artist and popular portraitist was solidly established by the end of the 1920s. In 1931, she assisted the foundation of La Société des Femmes Artistes Modernes, and became its regular exhibitor till the outbreak of World War II. From 1932 to 1935, Laurencin served as an art educator at the Villa Malakoff. In 1937, within the Great Exhibition of Independent Art Masters at the Petit Palais, the major retrospective of her art was organized.
Remaining in Paris till the end of her life, Marie Laurencin continued painting and designing for ballet throughout World War II. Her poetry collection, Le Carnet des Nuits, accompanied by short memoirs, was issued in 1942.
Bérénice
(Buste de Jeune Femme avec une Rose Rose et une Rose Blanc...)
Young Girl with a Garland of Flowers
Reading
The Rehearsal
Lady Crown
Paysage
Woman with a Fruit Basket
Untitled
Untitled
Woman with a Fan
Young Girl with Flowers and Pearls in Her Hair
Young Woman in a Hat
Self-portrait
Apollinaire and his Friends
The Young Girls
Marie Laurencin and Cecilia de Madrazo
The Fan
Spanish Dancers
Portrait of Mademoiselle Chanel
Self-portrait
Pablo Picasso
The Dancer
Girl's Head
The Blue Plume
Two Spanish Women
Deer
Woman with Dove
The Kiss
Portrait of Baroness Gourgaud with Pink Coat
Portrait of Baroness Gourgaud in Black Mantilla
Self-portrait
Portrait of Madame Paul Guillaume
Judith
Young Girl with Guitar
Artemis
Woman with Turban
Portrait of André Salmon
Self-portrait
Aleutian Islands
In her paintings, watercolors, drawings and prints, Marie Laurencin repeated a perennial crepuscule in a style combining the 18th-century rococo print mannerisms and the style of Persian and Mogul miniatures. Light pink and blue were the colors she used most frequently. She painted many portraits of women, girls and babies, and also found circus figures attractive as subject matters. Laurencin's female figures, once called "creatures of fairyland," have an impregnable sweetness of demeanor.
Quotations:
"Why should I paint dead fish, onions and beer glasses? Girls are so much prettier."
"I cannot be without a dog or a lover."
"I am deaf to the voices of men, my ear is not attuned."
"If I feel so distant from other painters, it is because they are men... But if the genius of men intimidates me, I feel perfectly at ease with everything that is feminine."
"The little I learned was taught me by the men whom I call great painters, my contemporaries, Matisse, Derain, Picasso, Braque."
Physical Characteristics: Marie Laurencin suffered from myopia since childhood. In 1937, she began to wear glasses.
Quotes from others about the person
Guillaume Apollinaire, poet and art critic: "As an artist, Mlle Laurencin can be placed between Picasso and Douanier Rousseau."
Marie Laurencin was introduced to Guillaume Apollinaire by Pablo Picasso. She had a passionate affair with the poet, which lasted until 1912. The relationship inspired each partner both intellectually and artistically. In 1914, Laurencin married a German-born Baron Otto von Waëtjen. The marriage ended in divorce six years later.
Marie Laurencin was in relationships with men and women. Armand Lowengard, who served for the most famous art dealer of the time, Joseph Duveen, was likely one of her partners. It is supposed that Laurencin also had romantic relationships with her maid Suzanne Moreau, who had served for the artist since 1925. Moreau was even legally adopted by Laurencin in 1954.