Suzanne Valadon

This lavish catalogue will accompany the first exhibition at a major American venue of the French model and painter Suzanne Valadon (1865–1938). Despite the popularity and success Valadon enjoyed in her lifetime, her work has been neglected since her death. Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel reconsiders the life and legacy of the revolutionary artist.  From a childhood marked by poverty and neglect, Suzanne Valadon defied the odds to become a successful painter of the Parisian avant-garde. Passionate about art from an early age, she became a popular artist’s model at fifteen, posing for Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Auguste Renoir, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, among many others. Edgar Degas encouraged her earliest artistic efforts, praising the use of line in her drawings and introducing her to printmaking techniques.  Valadon was the first self-taught woman artist to exhibit at the salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Later, when she turned to painting, she showed regularly at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d’Automne. She made a living from her art at a time when it when women faced countless obstacles to professional success. Despite these accomplishments, her work has received scant attention outside of France. The Barnes Foundation is the fi rst US institution to dedicate an exhibition to Valadon, introducing American audiences to her work and story.  With her art and lifestyle alike, Valadon challenged beha
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