Let’s Go To The Museum: Apollinaire and His Friends

Marie Laurencin, 1909, Réunion à la campagne (Apollinaire et ses amis), oil on canvas, 130 x 194 cm, Musée Picasso, Paris. Reproduced in The Cubist Painters, Aesthetic Meditations (1913)

APOLLINAIRE AND HIS FRIENDS, MARIE LAURENCIN

This month’s visit to the museum features a painting by French artist Marie Laurencin. Sorry that I haven’t been able to post any art writing challenges for awhile. I had an evil virus with pneumonia and it wore me out! I am very thankful to feel stronger.

Challenge: Write a poem or story using the painting as inspiration. Post it on your blog and link to my post. Or you can post your work in the comments below.

At the Bateau Lavoir, located in the Montmartre neighborhood, residence and collective of artists from the Belle Epoque, a group of friends have gathered to pay tribute to Apollinaire. The French poet, playwright and art critic is at the centre of the group; from left to right we identify Gertrude Stein, Fernande Olivier, Picasso’s Muse Crowned with Fruit; next to Apollinaire, Picasso and two poet friends- Marguerite Gillot and Maurice Cremnitz.

Marie Laurencin portrays herself playing the piano, while in the background we contemplate a bridge suggesting the Seine and the city. Apollinaire introduced Marie to the Cubist world and encouraged her first style, less ethereal, more solid and constructive than she would follow afterwards.

Of her he said: “Marie Laurencin has been able to explain, in the art of painting, an entirely female aesthetic.” From his first paintings, drawings, strongholds, although they point out natural simplicity, one could guess that the artist, in whom he would soon reveal himself, would one day express the grace and charm of the world. “As an artist, one can place Marie Laurencin between Picasso and Douanier Rousseau.”

Portrait de l’artiste, 1927

Laurencin’s works include paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints. She is best known for a style she called “nymphism”, referring to mythological nymphs, paintings that are usually melancholic, with pale colors, with preference for pink, blue and white.

She is known as one of the few female Cubist painters, with Sonia Delaunay, Marie Vorobieff, and Franciska Clausen, although she later distanced herself from it, stating in an interview in 1923: “Cubism has poisoned three years of my life, preventing me from doing any work. […] As long as I was influenced by the great men surrounding me, I could do nothing.”

“As long as I was influenced by the great men surrounding me, I could do nothing.”

Marie Laurencin

While her work shows the influence of Cubist painters Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who was her close friend, she developed a unique approach to abstraction which often centered on the representation of groups of women and animals. Her work lies outside the bounds of Cubist norms in her pursuit of a specifically feminine aesthetic by her use of pastel colors and curvilinear forms.

Marie Laurencin, artist

About the artist

Marie Laurencin

Born: October 31, 1883, Paris, France

Died: June 8, 1956 (age 72 years), Paris, France

Period: Cubism

Partner: Otto von Wätjen

Spouse: Otto von Wätjen (m. 1914–1921)

Parents: Alfred Toulet, Pauline Laurencin

Trois Femmes Jouant Avec Un Chien, year unknown

https://edition-originale.com/en/works/arts/first-and-precious-books

/marchesseau-marie-laurencin-1883-1956-catalogue-1986-48880

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/laurencin-marie/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Laurencin

Deux Jeunes Filles et Une Cavalière 1950

I found Marie Laurencin to be a fascinating woman and talented artist. I plan to study more about her and her work. If you would like to learn more about her or see her other paintings, I included some links. Thanks for visiting the museum with me.