James Picard - Artist of the Month, October 2008: Marie Laurencin

***October 2008***

Marie Laurencin
October 31, 1883 - June 8, 1956

Marie Laurencin was born in Paris on October 31, 1883 the illegitimate daughter of Pauline Laurencin and Alfred Toulet. She would not learn her father’s identity officially until she was 22, eight years after his death. Marie was a below average student at school and did not really care for academics, she did thrive however at drawing and painting. This led her mother to send her to Sèvres (a suburb in the southwest part of Paris) where she began studying porcelain painting. Soon after she met Georges Braque and started studying art at the Académie Humbert. . Being friends with Braque, led her to meet Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, who support her from this time on and integrate her into the discussions about art theory, which will soon lead to cubism.

Laurencin’s own work, however, stays untouched by the theoretical demands of Cubism and maintains a lyrical motif of young girls in pastel colouring and soft shading. In 1907 she exhibits at Clovis Sagot’s gallery in Montmartre. There, Pablo Picasso introduces Laurencin to Guillaume Apollinaire, with whom she would be romantically involved until 1913. Throughout the course of their relationship, both would serve as a source of artistic inspiration for the other. Through Picasso and Apollinaire, Laurencin frequents the Bateau Lavoir, where Picasso has his studio. She soon becomes friends with Fernande Olivier, Max Jacob, André Salmon, Gertrude Stein, and André Derain. In 1908 she makes her first sale to Gertrude Stein, a painting of Laurencin, Apollinaire, Picasso and his mistress, Fernande Olivier entitled “Group of Artists”. Three years later in 1911 she exhibits with the Cubists in the Salon des Indépendants. Laurencin also creates the illustrations for the book Un Petit brévaire d’amour. She would later go on to illustrate over eighty books during her lifetime.

In1913 Laurencin’s relationship with Apollinaire ends, signaling the end of her Cubist-inspired period. Laurencin’s mother dies. Laurencin establishes a contract with the prominent art dealer Paul Rosenberg, who also handled Matisse, Picasso, and Braque.

On June 22, 1914 Marie marries a German named Baron Otto von Wätjen, whom she had met the previous year.Upon the outbreak of World War I, the couple flee into exile in Spain, spending time in both Madrid and Barcelona. During that time, Laurencin associated with the artists Robert Delaunay and Francis Picabia. She continues to paint but after Laurencin learning the news of Apollinaire’s death in 1918 she becomes distraught and sinks into a depression. In 1921 she returns from exile to Paris, marking the beginning of an intense period of artistic creativity. Later that year, Laurencin divorces von Wätjen.

During the years of 1923 and 24 she designs sets and costumes for the Ballets Russes, which premiers in Monte Carlo and is later shown at the Théâtre Champs-Elysées in Paris to much acclaim. Laurencin also designs the set and costumes for the ballet Les Roses. At this time, Laurencin is much in demand as a costume and set designer, as well as a society portraitist, whose clients includes Coco Chanel. In 1925 Laurencin decides to take responsibility for raising and educating Suzanne Moreau, the young daughter of one of Laurencin’s maids. (She will legally adopt her as her child in 1954.) She teaches art at the art academy Villa Malakoff from 1932 to 1935 and continues painting until her apartment and all her belongings are requisitioned by the German Nazis. She would not regain the apartment until three years before her death.

Laurencin died in her apartment in Paris in June of 1956.She is buried in the cemetery Père-Lachaise and according to her wishes, dressed in white with a rose in one hand and Apollinaire’s love letters by her heart.

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