Painting Her Pleasure: Three Women Artists and the Nude in Avant-Garde Paris - Paperback

by Lauren Jimerson (Author)

An inspiring account of three women artists who pioneered new forms of the nude.

Even in the bohemian world of avant-garde Paris, certain rules had to be obeyed. One of these rules was that women artists did not paint nudes. Yet three women would challenge this prohibition, offering their own distinct takes on the classic genre.

Suzanne Valadon, Émilie Charmy and Marie Vassilieff painted in different styles, but they were united in their fascination for the nude. Their artistic explorations saw them experimenting with a range of cutting-edge subjects, including the male nude, the Black female nude, the pregnant nude and the nude self-portrait, a genre that few artists would tackle until half a century later.

Painting her pleasure situates the work of Valadon, Charmy and Vassilieff within and against modernism, drawing parallels with later feminist artists and philosophers. Unravelling the complexities of early twentieth-century gender regimes and persistent cultural stereotypes, it provides an illuminating history of women, sexuality and the body.

Back Jacket

While sexuality and the nude were prime subjects for male artists in the early twentieth century, for female artists, revealing sexual desire on canvas was deemed unacceptable. Painting her pleasure examines three remarkable women who defied this convention.

Marie Vassilieff (1884-1957), ?milie Charmy (1878-1974), and Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) probed sexuality in a forthright manner and questioned gender identity in their representations of the human form. They depicted the nude in a sexually dissident way, ushering in new subject matter for female artists - the male nude, the Black body, the pregnant nude and nude self-portrait. Treating these subjects was an act that defied the foundations of the nude practice and the tradition of art itself. As a result of their unorthodox practices, each artist encountered censorship.

Attention to Vassilieff, Charmy and Valadon offers rare female insights from a time when most women's voices were stifled. Examining their work sheds light on the complex ways in which women responded to the evolution of gender roles and sexual mores. These rebellious women painters contravened social decorum, challenged traditional and avant-garde artistic practices and partook in the making of the modern nude.

Author Biography

Lauren Jimerson, PhD is a Paris-based art historian specialising in women artists and modern European art. Her work has been recognised through grants from the Mellon Foundation as well as a Fulbright Scholarship to France. Jimerson has contributed to exhibitions on women artists at museums such as the Barnes Foundation, Musée de Montmartre, Musée du Luxembourg and Centre Pompidou Metz. Her expertise has also led her to appearances on NBC's The Today Show and France 24 as an art history commentator. Beyond her research, she lectures to diverse audiences through her online art history platform Art with Friends and in museums across the globe.