Editing Suzanne Valadon

{{Short description|French painter and artists' model}}
{{redirect|Valadon|other uses|Valadon (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Suzanne Valadon
| image            = Suzanne Valadon - Self-Portrait - Google Art Project.jpg
| image_size       = 
| caption          = ''Self-portrait'', 1898, [[Museum of Fine Arts Houston]]
| birth_name       = Marie-Clémentine Valadon
| birth_date       = {{Birth date |df=yes|1865|09|23}}
| birth_place      = [[Bessines-sur-Gartempe]], France
| death_date       = {{death date and age |df=yes|1938|04|07|1865|09|23}}
| death_place      = Paris, France 
| nationality      = French
| movement         = [[Post-Impressionism]], [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]]
| spouse           = {{plainlist|
* Paul Mousis,
* [[André Utter]]
}}
| awards           = 
| elected          = 
| patrons          = 
| website          = 
| field            = Painter
| training         = 
| works            = 
| influenced by    = 
| influenced       = 
| partner          = [[Erik Satie]], [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]]
}}
'''Suzanne Valadon''' ({{IPA|fr|syzan valadɔ̃}}; 23 September 1865 – 7 April 1938) was a French painter who was born '''Marie-Clémentine Valadon''' at [[Bessines-sur-Gartempe]], Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the {{lang|fr|[[Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts]]|italic=no}}. She was also the mother of painter [[Maurice Utrillo]].

Valadon spent nearly 40 years of her life as an artist.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=9}} The subjects of her drawings and paintings, such as ''[[Joy of Life (Suzanne Valadon)|Joy of Life]]'' (1911), included mostly female nudes, portraits of women, still lifes, and landscapes. She never attended the academy and was never confined within a set tradition or style of art.{{sfn |Warnod |1981 |p=40}} Despite not being confined to any tradition, she shocked the art world as the first woman painter to depict a male nude as well as less idealized images of women in comparison to those of her male counterparts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Suzanne Valadon|url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/valadon-suzanne/|work=The Art Story Foundation|access-date=17 March 2023}}</ref>

She was a model for many renowned artists. Among them, Valadon appeared in such paintings as ''[[Dance at Bougival]]'' (1883) and ''[[Dance in the City]]'' by [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]] (1883), and ''[[Portrait of Suzanne Valadon (Toulouse-Lautrec)|Suzanne Valadon]]'' (1885) and ''[[The Hangover (Suzanne Valadon)]]'' (1887–1889) by [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]].

== Early life ==
[[File:Suzanne Valadon Photo.jpg|thumb|upright|Valadon as a young woman]]
Valadon grew up in poverty with her mother, an unmarried [[Washerwoman|laundress]] in [[Montmartre]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Adler|first=Laura|title=The Trouble with Women Artists: Reframing the History of Art|publisher=Flammarion|year=2019|isbn=978-2-08-020370-0|location=Paris|pages=51}}</ref> She did not know her father. Known to be quite independent and rebellious, she attended primary school until age eleven when she began working.

She had a series of jobs that included working in a milliner's workshop, at a factory making funeral wreaths, selling vegetables, and as a waitress. At the age of 15, she obtained a job in her most desired field: performing in the circus as an acrobat. She was able to work at the circus because of her connection with [[Count Antoine de La Rochefoucauld]] and [[Thèo Wagner]], two symbolist painters, who were involved in decorating a circus belonging to [[Cirque Medrano|Medrano]]. The circus was visited frequently by artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and [[Berthe Morisot]] and it is speculated that this was the inspiration for a painting of Valadon by Morisot.{{sfn |Warnod |1981 |p=13}} A fall from a trapeze that injured her back is what ultimately ended her circus career after one year.

It is commonly believed that Valadon taught herself how to draw at the age of nine.{{sfn |Giraudon |2003}} In the [[Montmartre]] quarter of Paris, she pursued her interest in art, first working as a model and a muse for artists, observing and learning their techniques, as she could not afford art lessons herself. She observed and learned from artists, such as  Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, before becoming a noted and successful painter in her own right.<ref>{{cite web|title=Suzanne Valadon|url=http://www.nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/suzanne-valadon|work=National Museum of Women in the Arts|access-date=20 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Suzanne Valadon|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Suzanne-Valadon|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=17 March 2023}}</ref>

==Model==
[[File:Dance-At-Bougival.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Valadon is depicted dancing in ''[[Dance at Bougival]]'' (1883), by [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]]]]
Valadon began working as a model in 1880 in Montmartre at age 15.{{sfn |Rose |1999 |p=9}} She modeled for more than ten years for many different artists including [[Berthe Morisot]],<ref>[https://www.larazon.es/cataluna/20200531/vgix77uzxzejloxgzg6lg27f7u.html "Suzanne Valadon, la pintora que dio luz a los posimpresionistas"] (in Spanish), Carlos Sala, ''La Razón'', 31 May 2020, updated 13-10-2021. [Retrieved 18-01-2022].</ref> [[Pierre Puvis de Chavannes|Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes]], [[Théophile Steinlen]], [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]], [[Jean-Jacques Henner]], and [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]].{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=9}} She modeled under the name "Maria" before being nicknamed "Suzanne" by Toulouse-Lautrec, after the biblical story of [[Susanna (Book of Daniel)|Susanna and the Elders]] as he felt that she especially preferred modeling for older artists.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=14}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Drees |first1=Della |title=Valadon and her studio in Montmartre |date=13 March 2016 |url=https://delladrees.com/wordpress/?p=955 |access-date=20 August 2018}}</ref> She was Toulouse-Lautrec's lover for two years, which ended when she attempted suicide in 1888.<ref name="Gimferrer 1990 p. ">{{cite book |last=Gimferrer |first=Pere |title=Toulouse-Lautrec |publisher=Rizzoli |publication-place=New York |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-8478-1276-9 |oclc=22422605 |page=}}{{page needed|date=November 2021}}</ref>{{sfn |Warnod |1981 |p=40}}

Valadon learned and furthered her art by observing the techniques of the artists for whom she posed.{{sfn |Warnod |1981 |p=40}} She was considered a very focused, ambitious, rebellious, determined, self-confident, and passionate woman.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=15}} In the early 1890s, she befriended [[Edgar Degas]], who was impressed by her bold line drawings and fine paintings. He purchased her work and encouraged her. She remained one of his closest friends until his death in 1917. Art historian Heather Dawkins believed that Valadon's experience as a model added depth to her own images of nude women, which tended to be less idealized than the representations of women by the male post-impressionists.<ref name="Iskin 2004">{{cite journal |last=Iskin |first=Ruth |title=Review of ''The Nude in French Art and Culture, 1870-1910'' by Heather Dawkins. |journal=Caa.reviews |publisher=College Art Association |date=2004-01-07 |issn=1543-950X |doi=10.3202/caa.reviews.2004.1|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Morisot's 1880 drawing of Valadon as a tightrope walker preceded it, but the most recognizable early image of Valadon is in Renoir's ''[[Dance at Bougival]]'' from 1883, the same year that she posed for ''[[Dance in the City]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Smee|first=Sebastian|title=At MFA, dancing the night away in the arms of Renoir|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2012/05/18/mfa-dancing-night-away-arms-renoir/sZJlEIpJMcdGxHvSR2x5EM/story.html|work=The Boston Globe|access-date=10 April 2013}}</ref> In 1885, Renoir painted her portrait again as [[:Image:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Girl Braiding Her Hair (Suzanne Valadon).jpg|''Girl Braiding Her Hair'']]. Another of his portraits of her in 1885, [[:Image:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Suzanne Valadon - profile.jpg|''Suzanne Valadon'']], is of her head and shoulders in profile. Valadon frequented the bars and taverns of Paris with her fellow painters and she was Toulouse-Lautrec's subject in his oil painting ''The Hangover''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|url=http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/229060|work=Harvard Art Museums|access-date=20 December 2012}}</ref>

==Artist==
[[File:Joy of Life MET DT356454.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Joy of Life (Suzanne Valadon)|Joy of Life]]'' (1911), by Suzanne Valadon, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]]
Valadon was an acclaimed painter of her time, well-respected and championed by contemporaries such as Edgar Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. She was admitted to professional associations and her works were admitted to juried exhibitions. She lived a bohemian life with rebellious vision.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|author=Jacqui Palumbo|title=This rebellious female painter of bold nude portraits has been overlooked for a century|url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/suzanne-valadon-nudes-art-history/index.html|access-date=2021-02-09|website=CNN|date=8 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

Valadon's earliest surviving signed and dated work is a [[self-portrait]] from 1883, drawn in [[Charcoal (art)|charcoal]] and [[pastel]].{{sfn |Giraudon |2003}} She produced mostly drawings between 1883 and 1893, and began painting in 1892. Her first models were family members, especially her son, mother, and niece.{{sfn |Warnod |1981 |pp=48, 57}}

Valadon began painting full-time in 1896.{{sfn |Giraudon |2003}} She painted [[still lifes]], [[portraits]], flowers, and [[landscape art|landscape]]s that are noted for their strong composition and vibrant colors. She was, however, best known for her candid female nudes.{{sfn |Burns |1993 |pp=25–46}} Her work attracted attention partly because, by painting unidealized nudes, she upset the social norms of the time that had been created by male artists.<ref name="Betterton">{{cite journal|last=Betterton|first=Rosemary|title=How Do Women Look? The Female Nude in the Work of Suzanne Valadon|journal=Feminist Review|date=Spring 1985|volume=19|pages=3–24 [4]|doi=10.1057/fr.1985.2|s2cid=144064933}}</ref>

Her earliest known female nude was executed in 1892.{{sfn |Rose |1999 |p=97}} In 1895, the art dealer [[Paul Durand-Ruel]] exhibited a group of twelve [[etching]]s by Valadon that show women in various stages of their toilettes.{{sfn |Giraudon |2003}} Later, she regularly showed at Galerie [[Bernheim-Jeune]] in Paris.<ref name=Brooklyn>{{cite web|title=Suzanne Valadon|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/suzanne_valadon.php|work=Brooklyn Museum of Art|access-date=20 December 2012}}</ref> Valadon was the first woman painter accepted as an exhibitor in the Salon de la Nationale in 1894,<ref name="Sowerwine 2018">{{cite book |last=Sowerwine |first=Charles |title=France Since 1870: Culture, Politics and Society |url={{GBurl |id=mCVHEAAAQBAJ}} |publisher=Palgrave |publication-place=London |edition=3rd |year=2018 |orig-year=2001 |isbn=978-1-137-40611-8 |oclc=1051356006 |page=[{{GBurl |id=mCVHEAAAQBAJ |pg=PA94}} 94]–[{{GBurl |id=mCVHEAAAQBAJ |pg=PA95}} 95] |via=Google Books partial preview}}</ref> which is notable since competition for acceptance was fierce.

She exhibited in the Salon d'Automne from 1909, in the Salon des Independants from 1911, and in the Salon des Femmes Artistes Modernes from 1933 to 1938.{{sfn |Gaze |1997 |p=1384}} Notably, [[Degas]] was the first person to purchase drawings from her,{{sfn |Warnod |1981 |p=51}} and he introduced her to other collectors, including [[Paul Durand-Ruel]] and [[Ambroise Vollard]]. Degas also taught her the skill of soft-ground etching.{{sfn |Warnod |1981 |p=55}}

[[File:Le lancement du filet.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Casting the Net]]'' (1914), by Suzanne Valadon, Museum of Fine Arts Nancy]]
After her 1895 marriage to the well-to-do banker Paul Mousis, Valadon became a full-time painter the following year.{{sfn |Giraudon |2003}} She made a shift from drawing to painting in 1909.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=17}} Her first large oils for the Salon related to sexual pleasures and they were some of the first examples in modern painting with a man being an object of desire by a woman similar to that idealized treatment of women by male artists. These notable Salon paintings include ''[[Adam and Eve (Valadon)|Adam and Eve]]'' (''Adam et Eve'') (1909), ''[[Joy of Life (Suzanne Valadon)|Joy of Life]]'' (''La Joie de vivre'') (1911), and ''[[Casting the Net]]'' (''Lancement du filet'') (1914).{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |pp=18-19}} In her lifetime, Valadon produced approximately 273 drawings, 478 paintings, and 31 etchings, excluding pieces given away or destroyed.{{sfn |Hewitt |2018 |p=388}}

Valadon was well known during her lifetime, especially toward the end of her career, in the 1920s more specifically, as she helped to transform the female nude that depicted expression through a woman's experience.{{sfn |Mathews |1991 |p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2021}}<ref name= NMWA >{{cite web|title=Suzanne Valadon|url=https://nmwa.org/art/artists/suzanne-valadon/|work=National Museum of Women in the Arts|access-date=17 March 2023}}</ref> Her works are in the collection of the [[Centre Georges Pompidou]] in Paris, the [[Museum of Grenoble]], and the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York, among others.

Valadon's painting of an acrobat, L' Acrobate ou La Roue, sold in 2017 for £75,000 by Christie's Auction House.<ref>{{cite web|title=Suzanne Valadon|url=https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6088344|work=L' Acrobate ou La Roue |access-date=7 Feb 2023}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

===Style===
[[File:La Poupée abandonnée, par Suzanne Valadon.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Abandoned Doll]]'' (1921), by Suzanne Valadon, [[National Museum of Women in the Arts]]]]
Valadon was not confined to a specific style, yet both Symbolist and Post-Impressionist aesthetics are clearly demonstrated within her work.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dolan|first=Threse|year=2001|title=Passionate Discontent: Creativity, Gender and French Symbolist Art|journal=CAA Reviews|doi=10.3202/caa.reviews.2001.83|doi-access=free}}</ref> She worked primarily with oil paint, oil pencils, pastels, and red chalk; she did not use ink or watercolor because these mediums were too fluid for her preference.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=16}} Valadon's paintings feature rich colors and bold, open brushwork often featuring firm black lines to define and outline her figures.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=9}}

Valadon's self-portraits, portraits, nudes, landscapes, and still lifes remain detached from trends and contemporaneous aspects of academic art.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |pp=9, 11}} The subjects of Valadon's paintings often reinvent the old master themes: women bathing, reclining nudes, and interior scenes. She preferred to paint working-class models. Art historian Patricia Mathews suggests that Valadon's working-class status and experience as a model influenced her intimate, familiar observation of these women and their bodies. In this respect she differed from [[Berthe Morisot]] and [[Mary Cassatt]], who painted mostly women, but "remained well within the bounds of propriety in their subject matter" because of their upper-middle-class status in French society.{{sfn |Mathews |1991 |p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2021}} Valadon's marginalized status allowed her to enter the contemporary male dominated domain of art through modeling and her lack of formal academic training may have made her less influenced by academic conventions.{{sfn |Gaze |1997 |pp=1385–1386}}  She has been noted for that difference in her paintings of the nude women.{{sfn |Mathews |1991 |p=418}} She resisted typical depictions of women, emphasizing class trappings and their sexual attractiveness, through her realistic depiction of unidealised and self-possessed women who are not overly sexualised.{{sfn |Mathews |1991 |pp=416, 419, 423}} She also painted many nude self-portraits across the span of her career, the later of which displayed her aging body realistically.

Valadon emphasized the importance of the composition of her portraits over techniques such as painting expressive eyes.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=16}} Her later works, such as ''[[The Blue Room (Valadon)|Blue Room]]'' (1923), are brighter in color and show a new emphasis on decorative backgrounds and patterned materials.<ref>{{cite web|title=Suzanne Valadon|url=http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=6055|work=Museum of Modern Art|access-date=7 March 2013}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Santiago Rusinol Summer Shower 1891.jpg|thumb|[[Santiago Rusiñol]], ''Summer shower'', 1891. Suzanne Valadon and [[Miquel Utrillo]] in the studio of Rusiñol]]
In 1883, aged 18, Valadon gave birth to a son, [[Maurice Utrillo]].{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=9}} Valadon's mother cared for Maurice while she returned to modelling.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=15}} Later, Valadon's friend [[Miquel Utrillo]] signed papers recognizing Maurice as his son, although the true paternity was never disclosed.{{sfn |Warnod |1981 |p=48}}

In 1893, Valadon began a short-lived affair with composer [[Erik Satie]], moving to a room next to his on the {{Lang|fr|Rue Cortot}}. Satie became obsessed with her, calling her his ''{{Lang|fr|Biqui}}'', writing impassioned notes about "her whole being, lovely eyes, gentle hands, and tiny feet". After six months she left, leaving him devastated.<ref name="Föreningen2">{{cite web|url=http://www.af.lu.se/~fogwall/article5.html|title=Suzanne Valadon|publisher=Akademiska Föreningen, [[Lund University]]|access-date=12 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101003121959/http://www.af.lu.se/~fogwall/article5.html|archive-date=3 October 2010|first=Niclas |last=Fogwall}}</ref>

Valadon married the stockbroker Paul Mousis in 1895. For 13 years, she lived with him in an apartment in Paris and in a house in the outlying region.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |p=16}} In 1909, Valadon began an affair with the painter [[André Utter]], a 23-year-old friend of her son. He became a model for her and appears as Adam in ''Adam et Eve'', which was painted that year. She divorced Mousis in 1913.{{sfn |Marchesseau |1996 |pp=17-18}} Valadon then married Utter in 1914.{{sfn |Giraudon |2003}} Utter managed her career as well as that of her son.{{sfn |Jiminez |2013 |p=529}} Valadon and Utter regularly exhibited work together until the couple divorced in 1934, when Valadon was almost seventy.{{sfn |Jiminez |2013 |p=529}} They continued a relationship until her death, nonetheless, and are buried together in the [[Saint Ouen cemetery]] near Paris.

Suzanne Valadon died of a stroke{{sfn |Warnod |1981 |p=88}} on 7 April 1938, at the age of 72, and was buried in Division 13 of the [[Cimetière de Saint-Ouen]], Paris. Among those in attendance at the funeral were her friends and colleagues [[André Derain]], [[Pablo Picasso]], and [[Georges Braque]].

==Exhibitions==
===Group exhibitions===
* 1894, {{lang|fr|[[Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts]]|italic=no}}, Paris 
* 1907, Galerie Eugène Blot, Paris
* 1909, [[Salon d'Automne]], Grand Palais, Paris
* 1910, [[Salon d'Automne]], Grand Palais, Paris
* 1911, [[Salon d'Automne]], Grand Palais, Paris
* 1911 - continuing, [[Salon des Indépendants]], Paris
* 1917, [[Maurice Utrillo|Utrillo]], Valadon, [[André Utter|Utter]], Galerie Berthe Weill, Paris
* 1920, Second Exhibition of Young French Painting, Galerie Manzy Joyant, Paris
* 1921, Young Painting, Palais d'Ixelles
* 1926, (retrospective), [[Salon des Indépendants]], Paris
* 1927, [[Salon des Tuileries]], Paris
* 1928, [[Salon des Tuileries]], Paris
* 1933-1938, Salon des Femmes Artistes Modernes, Paris
After her death in 1938
* 1940, 22nd Biennale Internationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris
* 1949, Great Trends in Contemporary Painting from Manet to our Day, [[Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon|Musée des Beaux-Arts]], Lyons; 1961, Maurice Utrillo V. Suzanne Valadon, [[Haus der Kunst]], Munich
* 1964, Documenta, Kassel
* 1969, Fourteenth Salon de Montrouge
* 1976, Women Artists (1550-1950), [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]]
* 1979, Maurice Utrillo, Suzanne Valadon, [[Musée Toulouse-Lautrec]]
* 1991, Albi: Utrillo, Valadon, Utter, Chateau Constant, Bessines 
* 1991, Utrillo, Valadon, Utter: la Trilogie Maudite, Acropolis, Nice

=== Solo exhibitions ===
* 1911, the first [[solo exhibition]] of the work of Suzanne Valadon, at the Galerie Clovis Sagot
* 1915, Galerie Berthe Weill, Paris
* 1919, Galerie Berthe Weill, Paris
* 1922, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris
* 1923, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris
* 1927, retrospective, Galerie Berthe Weill, Paris
* 1928, Galerie des Archers, Lyons
* 1928, Galerie Berthe Weill, Paris
* 1929, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris
* 1929, Galerie Bernier, Paris
* 1931, Galerie Le Portique, Paris
* 1931, Galerie Le Centaure, Brussels
* 1932, Galerie Le Portique, Paris
* 1932, retrospective with a preface by [[Édouard Herriot]], Galerie Georges Petit, Paris
* 1937, Galerie Bernier, Paris
* 1938, Galerie Pétridès, Paris
* 1939, Galerie Bernier, Paris
* 1942, Galerie Pétridès, Paris
* 1947, Galerie Bernier, Paris
* 1947, Galerie Pétridès, Paris
* 1948, Tribute to Suzanne Valadon, [[Musée National d'Art Moderne]], Paris
* 1956, The Lefevre Gallery, London
* 1959, Galerie Pétridès, Paris
* 1962, Galerie Pétridès, Paris
* 1967, [[Musée National d'Art Moderne]], Paris
* 1996, Suzanne Valadon, Pierre Gianada Foundation, Martigny
* 2021, [[Barnes Foundation]], September 26, 2021 to January 9, 2022, first major U.S. solo exhibition of Valadon's work <ref>{{Cite web|title=Suzanne Valadon: An Artist on View Webinar {{!}} Washington DC|url=https://washington.org/index.php/node/2686|access-date=2021-02-08|website=washington.org}}</ref><ref name="Barnes Foundation 2021">{{cite web |title=The Barnes Foundation Presents ''Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel''|website=Barnes Foundation |date=2021-06-07 |url=https://www.barnesfoundation.org/press/press-releases/suzanne-valadon |access-date=2021-08-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.barnesfoundation.org/whats-on/exhibitions/suzanne-valadon|title=Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel|website=Barnes Foundation}}</ref><ref name="Naves">{{cite web |last=Naves |first=Mario |title=Exhibition note |website=The New Criterion |date=22 September 2017 |url=https://newcriterion.com/issues/2021/11/exhibition-note |access-date=2021-10-21}}</ref>
* 2022, Glyptoteket, Copenhagen

=== Permanent collections ===
*  [[Albright–Knox Art Gallery|Albright-Knox]], Buffalo<ref>{{Cite web|title=La Mère et l'enfant à toilette (Mother and Child at Bath) {{!}} Albright-Knox|url=https://www.albrightknox.org/artworks/1970263-la-m%C3%A8re-et-lenfant-%C3%A0-toilette-mother-and-child-bath|access-date=2021-02-19|website=www.albrightknox.org}}</ref>
*[[British Museum]], London<ref>{{Cite web|title=print {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1926-0313-100|access-date=2021-02-19|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Carnegie Museum of Art]], Pittsburgh<ref name="CMOA Collection">{{cite web |title=Still Life with Fruit |website=CMOA Collection |url=https://collection.cmoa.org/objects/605c22bc-8c5c-4389-9364-834a2ed4e3ad |access-date=2021-11-15}}</ref>
* [[Dallas Museum of Art]], Dallas<ref>{{Cite web|title=Portrait of Utrillo in profile (Portrait d'Utrillo de Profil) - DMA Collection Online|url=https://www.dma.org/object/artwork/5323075/|access-date=2021-02-19|website=www.dma.org|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Detroit Institute of Arts]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Bath|url=https://www.dia.org/art/collection/object/bath-63915|access-date=2021-02-19|website=www.dia.org|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://art.famsf.org/suzanne-valadon/toilette-de-deux-enfant-dans-le-jardin-196330412|title=Toilette de deux enfant dans le jardin - Suzanne Valadon|date=8 May 2015|website=FAMSF Search the Collections}}</ref>
* [[Harvard Art Museums]], Cambridge<ref>{{Cite web|last=Harvard|title=From the Harvard Art Museums' collections The Hangover (Suzanne Valadon)|url=https://harvardartmuseums.org/art/229060|access-date=2021-02-19|website=harvardartmuseums.org|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Indianapolis Museum of Art]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=untitled (Man with Hat)|url=http://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/11596/|access-date=2021-02-19|website=Indianapolis Museum of Art Online Collection|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]<ref>{{cite web |title=results for 'Suzanne Valadon' |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!?q=Suzanne%20Valadon&perPage=20&offset=0&pageSize=0&sortBy=Relevance&sortOrder=asc&searchField=ArtistCulture |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |location=New York}}</ref>
* [[Minneapolis Institute of Art]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://collections.artsmia.org/art/76848/women-suzanne-valadon|title=Women, Suzanne Valadon ^ Minneapolis Institute of Art|website=collections.artsmia.org}}</ref>
* [[Unterlinden Museum|Musée d'Unterlinden]], Colmar<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oeuvre : Précisions - Nu au châle bleu {{!}} Musée Unterlinden|url=https://webmuseo.com/ws/musee-unterlinden/app/collection/record/456|access-date=2021-02-19|website=Musée Unterlinden - WebMuseo|language=fr-FR}}</ref>
*[[Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mba-lyon.fr/fr/fiche-oeuvre/marie-coca-et-sa-fille|title=Marie Coca et sa fille &#124; Musée des Beaux Arts|website=www.mba-lyon.fr}}</ref>
* [[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Works by Suzanne Valadon in the MFAH Collections|url=https://emuseum.mfah.org/people/173/suzanne-valadon/objects |website=The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston}}</ref>
*[[Museum of Modern Art]], New York<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/artists/6055|title=Suzanne Valadon|website=The Museum of Modern Art}}</ref>
* [[National Museum of Women in the Arts]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/suzanne-valadon|title=Suzanne Valadon &#124; National Museum of Women in the Arts|website=nmwa.org}}</ref>{{sfn |Giraudon |2003}}
* [[Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art]], Kansas City<ref>{{Cite web|title=Untitled (Still Life)|url=https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/33893/untitled-still-life;jsessionid=3C71E68D64D4BD6F5A284862DAF0509A|access-date=2021-02-19|website=art.nelson-atkins.org|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Petit Palais]], Geneva<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/suzanne-valadon-mistress-of-montmartre/|title=Suzanne Valadon: The Mistress Of Montmartre|first=Magda|last=Michalska|date=23 September 2016|website=DailyArtMagazine.com - Art History Stories}}</ref>
*[[Rose Art Museum]], Waltham<ref>{{Cite web|title=Digital Collection {{!}} The Rose Art Museum {{!}} Brandeis University - Young Girl (Jeune Fille)|url=http://rosecollection.brandeis.edu/objects-1/info?query=Artist_Maker=%22770%22|access-date=2021-02-19|website=rosecollection.brandeis.edu}}</ref>
*[[Smart Museum of Art]], Chicago<ref>{{Cite web|title=Works {{!}} Suzanne Valadon {{!}} People {{!}} Smart Museum of Art {{!}} The University of Chicago|url=https://smartcollection.uchicago.edu/people/1617/suzanne-valadon/objects|access-date=2021-02-19|website=smartcollection.uchicago.edu}}</ref>
*[[University of Michigan Museum of Art]], Ann Arbor<ref>{{Cite web|title=Exchange: Bather Seated|url=https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/9969/view|access-date=2021-02-19|website=exchange.umma.umich.edu}}</ref>

==Gallery==
=== Artwork by Valadon ===
<gallery>
File:SValadonSelfPortrait1883.jpg|''Self-portrait'', 1883
File:Portrait de Maurice Utrillo à 7ans par sa mère Suzanne Valadon.jpg|''My son at seven years old'', 1890
File:Suzanne Valadon - Portrait d'Erik Satie.jpg|''Portrait of Erik Satie'', 1893
File:Suzanne Valadon , Nu, 1895.jpg|''Nude'', 1895
File:ValadonSuzanne TheBath.jpg|''The Bath'', 1908
File:(Barcelona) L'été ou Adam et Eve - Suzanne Valadon - Musée national d'Art moderne Paris.jpg|''[[Adam and Eve (Valadon)|Adam and Eve]]'', by Suzanne Valadon, 1909
File:Suzanne Valadon - Nus.jpg|''Nudes'', 1919
File:Suzanne Valadon - Blumenvase auf einem runden Tisch - 1920.jpeg|''Flowers on a Round Table'', 1920
File:Maurice Utrillo, par Suzanne Valadon.jpg|''Portrait of the Painter Maurice Utrillo'', 1921
File:(Barcelona) La chambre bleue - Suzanne Valadon.jpg|''[[The Blue Room (Valadon)|The Blue Room]] (La chambre bleue)'', 1923
File:Still Life with Tulips and Fruit Bowl 1924.jpg|''Still Life with Tulips and Fruit Bowl'', 1924
File:Portrait de Maurice Utrillo par sa mère Suzanne Valadon.jpg|''Portrait of Maurice Utrillo'', 1925
File:Bouquet de fleur, par Suzanne Valadon.jpg|''Bouquet of Flowers'', 1928
File:Still Life with Basket of Apples Vase of Flowers 1928.jpg|''Still Life with Basket of Apples Vase of Flowers'', 1928
File:Valadon Women MIA 200315630.jpg|''Three Woman Bathing,'' 1928
File:Young Girl in Front of a Window by Suzanne Valadon, San Diego Museum of Art.JPG|''Young Girl in Front of a Window'', 1930
File:(Barcelona) Autoretrat al mirall - by Suzanne Valadon.jpg|Suzanne Valadon, ''Self-portrait''
File:Bouquet de roses Suzanne Valadon.jpg|''Bouquet de roses'', 1936
File:(Albi) Jeune fille au bain ~1919 - Suzanne Valadon HsT.jpg|''Young Girl Bathing''
File:Valadon, Nu au châle bleu.jpg|''[[Nude Woman with a Blue Shawl]]'' (1930)
</gallery>

===Portraits of Valadon===
<gallery>
File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Suzanne Valadon - profile.jpg|''Profile portrait of Suzanne Valadon'', by [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]], 1885
File:Toulouse LAUTREC, Henri - Portrait de Suzanne Valadon (Madame Suzanne Valadon, artiste peintre) - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Portrait of Suzanne Valadon (Toulouse-Lautrec)|Portrait of Suzanne Valadon]]'', by [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]], 1885
File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Suzanne Valadon - 1885.jpg|Portrait of Valadon, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1885
File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Suzanne Valadon - La Natte - Girl Braiding Her Hair.jpg|''[[The Braid]]'' by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1886-1887
File:Portrait de Suzanne Valadon par Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.jpg|''[[The Hangover (Suzanne Valadon)]]'', by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, c. 1888
(Barcelona) Retrat de Suzanne Valadon - Miquel Utrillo Museu del Cau Ferrat, Siges.jpg|''Portrait of Suzanne Valadon'', by [[Miquel Utrillo]], 1891
File:Hector Leroux--1892--portrait de Susanne--1892.jpg|''Vestal reading'' (study), by [[Hector Leroux]], c. 1892
André Utter, Portrait de Suzanne Valadon.jpg|Valadon by [[André Utter]], 1921
</gallery>

== Illustrations ==
* [[Jean Cocteau]], Bertrand Guégan (1892-1943); ''L'almanach de Cocagne pour l'an 1920-1922, Dédié aux vrais Gourmands Et aux Francs Buveurs''<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/799721540 Notice ''WorldCat'']; [http://www.sudoc.abes.fr/DB=2.1//SRCH?IKT=12&TRM=121889386&COOKIE=U10178,Klecteurweb,D2.1,E7d5bdaf4-147,I250,B341720009+,SY,A%5C9008+1,,J,H2-26,,29,,34,,39,,44,,49-50,,53-78,,80-87,NLECTEUR+PSI,R90.154.204.79,FN sudoc]; [http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb326866411 BnF]. Engraved on wood and unpublished drawings of: [[Henri Matisse|Matisse]], [[Jean Marchand (painter)|J. Marchand]], [[Raoul Dufy|R. Dufy]], Sonia Lewitska, [[André Dunoyer de Segonzac|de Segonzac]], [[Jean Émile Laboureur]], [[Othon Friesz|Friesz]], [[Albert Marquet|Marquet]], Pierre Laprade, [[Paul Signac|Signac]], Louis Latapie, Suzanne Valadon, [[Henriette Tirman]] and others.'</ref>

== Feminist commentary ==
As one of the best documented French artists of the early twentieth century, Valadon's body of work has been of great interest to feminist art historians,<ref name="The Closet Feminist 2013">{{cite web |title=Inspired by Art Herstory: Suzanne Valadon's "The Blue Room" (1923) |website=The Closet Feminist |date=2013-09-11 |url=http://www.theclosetfeminist.ca/inspired-by-art-herstory-suzanne-valadons-the-blue-room-1923/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404015636/http://www.theclosetfeminist.ca/inspired-by-art-herstory-suzanne-valadons-the-blue-room-1923/ |archive-date=2019-04-04 |url-status=dead |access-date=2021-11-16}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=appears to be a blog site|date=November 2021}} especially given her focus on the female form. Her work was candid and occasionally awkward, often characterized by strong lines, and her resistance to both academic and avant-garde conventions for representing the female nude have encouraged interest in her work: It has been argued<!-- by whom? --> that many of her images of women signal a form of resistance to some of the dominant representations of female sexuality in early twentieth-century Western art. Many of her nudes painted from the 1910s onward are heavily proportioned and sometimes awkwardly posed. The feminist critics assert that they are conspicuously at odds with the svelte, 'feminine' type to be found in the imagery of both popular and 'high' art.{{sfn |Gaze |1997 |p=1386}} <!-- similar to Renoir, Picasso, and Moore perhaps? --> Her self-portrait from 1931, when she was 66, stands out as one of the early examples of a woman painter recording her own physical decline.<ref name="Bonazzoli Robecchi 2020 pp. 84-87">{{cite book |last1=Bonazzoli |first1=Francesca |last2=Robecchi |first2=Michele |title=Portraits unmasked : the stories behind the faces |publisher=Prestel |publication-place=Munich; New York |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-7913-8620-1 |oclc=1184016102 |pages=84–87}}</ref><!-- who would say that about all of the male artists who did just that in self portraits -->

Like many other talented female artists, although she is known to have been an important modern artist, Valadon never had been given a solo exhibition by a U.S. art institution. Her first institutional solo exhibition in the U.S., at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, was scheduled to open in September 2021.<ref name="auto"/>

==Honors and legacy==
Both an asteroid ([[6937 Valadon]]) and a [[List of craters on Venus|crater on Venus]] are named in her honor.

The small square at the base of the [[Montmartre funicular]] in Paris is named Place Suzanne Valadon. At the top of the funicular, and less than 50 meters to its east, are the steps named rue Maurice Utrillo after her son the artist.

=== Depiction in novels and plays ===
A novel based on the life of Suzanne Valadon was written by Elaine Todd Koren and was published in 2001, titled ''Suzanne: of Love and Art''.<ref name="Koren 2001">{{cite book |last=Koren |first=Elaine |title=Suzanne: of Love and Art |publisher=Maverick Books |publication-place=Woodstock, NY |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-9672355-2-3 |oclc=47894155}}</ref>  An earlier novel by Sarah Baylis, ''Utrillo's Mother'', was published first in England and later in the United States. [[Timberlake Wertenbaker]]'s play, ''[[The Line (play)|The Line]]'' (2009), traces the relationship between Valadon and Degas.<ref name="Billington 2009">{{cite web |last=Billington |first=Michael |title=Theatre review: ''The Line'' |website=the Guardian |date=2009-11-24 |url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/nov/24/the-line-review |access-date=2021-11-15}}</ref> Several have speculated Valadon was the basis for the character Suzanne Rouvier in the [[W. Somerset Maugham]]'s 1944 novel ''[[The Razor's Edge]]''.<ref name="Burke 2017">{{cite web |last=Burke |first=Desmond T. |title=The Razor's Edge Notes |website=I WANDERLING |date=2017-04-20 |url=https://the-wanderling.com/razor_notes.html |access-date=2024-06-30 |at=Suzanne Rouvier}}</ref><ref name="p445">{{cite web |last=Bertell |first=Elizabeth |title=Suzanne Valadon french painter |website=SlideShare |date=2014-05-28 |url=https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/suzanne-valadon-french-painter/35223992#67 |access-date=2024-06-30 |page=67}}</ref> There were many parallels between Valadon's life and that of the Rouvier character.<ref name="Rogal 1997">{{cite book |last=Rogal |first=Samuel J. |title=A William Somerset Maugham encyclopedia |publisher=Greenwood Press |publication-place=Westport, Conn. |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-4294-7631-7 |oclc=70766173 |page=[https://epdf.pub/pdfviewer/web/viewer.html?file=https%3A%2F%2Fepdf.pub%2Fdownload%2Fa-william-somerset-maugham-encyclopedia.html%3Freader%3D1#page=253&zoom=auto,-225,489 253]}}</ref><ref name="Burke 2017"/>

Suzanne Valadon’s relationships with Edgar Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec are described in R.w. Meek’s two historical fiction novels, The Dream Collector, Book I “Sabrine & Sigmund Freud” <ref>{{Cite book |last=Meek |first=R.w. |title=The Dream Collector, Book I "Sabrine and Sigmund Freud" |publisher=Historium Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-962465-13-7 |location=New York}}</ref> and The Dream Collector, Book II “Sabrine & Vincent van Gogh.” <ref>{{Cite book |last=Meek |first=R.w. |title=The Dream Collector, Book II "Sabrine and Vincent van Gogh" |publisher=Historium Press |year=2024 |isbn=978-1-962465-34-2 |location=New York}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Musée de Montmartre]], established in the building in which Valadon had an apartment and studio, which are preserved

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
*{{cite journal |last=Burns |first=Janet M. C. |title=Looking as Women: The Paintings of Suzanne Valadon, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Frida Kahlo |journal=Atlantis |year=1993 |issn=0702-7818 |oclc=936739756 |volume = 18 | issue = 1&2| pages = 25–46}}
*{{cite book |last=Gaze |first=Delia |author-link=Delia Gaze |title=Dictionary of women artists |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |publication-place=London Chicago |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-884964-21-3 |oclc=1033656447 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofwome0002unse/page/1384/mode/2up |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |pages=1384–1387}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |last=Giraudon |first=Colette |encyclopedia=Oxford Art Online |title=Valadon, Suzanne |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t087579}}
*{{cite book |last=Hewitt |first=Catherine |title=Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon |publisher=St. Martin's Press |publication-place=New York |year=2018 |isbn=9781250157645 |id={{ISBN|9781250157645|9781785782749}} {{OCLC|1006391440|1026408741}} <!--|lay-url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/books/review/renoirs-dancer-suzanne-valadon-catherine-hewitt.html |lay-source=She Was a Model for Impressionist Masters. Then She Became One Herself. — NY Times |lay-date=2018-05-29-->}}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Jiminez |editor-first=Jill Berk |title=Dictionary of Artists' Models |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |orig-year=2001 |location=London |isbn=978-1-135-95914-2 |doi=10.4324/9781315063119 |oclc=861081918}}
*{{cite book |last=Marchesseau |first=Daniel |title=Suzanne Valadon : &#91;exposition&#93; 26 janvier-27 mai 1996 |publisher=Fondation Pierre Gianadda |publication-place=Martigny, Switzerland |year=1996 |isbn=9782884430364 |oclc=34256669}}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Mathews | first1 = Patricia | year = 1991 | title = Returning the Gaze: Diverse Representations of the Nude in the Art of Suzanne Valadon | journal = Art Bulletin | volume = 73 | issue = 3| pages = 415–30 | doi=10.2307/3045814| jstor = 3045814 }}
*{{cite book |last=Rose |first=June |author-link=June Rose |title=Suzanne Valadon: The Mistress of Montmartre |publisher=St. Martin's Press |publication-place=New York |year=1999 |orig-year=1998 |isbn=9780312199210 |oclc=1036881995 |url=https://archive.org/details/suzannevaladonmi00rose |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
*{{cite book |last=Warnod |first=Jeanine |translator-last=Jennings |translator-first=Shirley |publication-place=New York |title=Suzanne Valadon |year=1981 |isbn=9780517544990 |oclc=7573059}}
{{refend}}

===Further reading===
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}
*{{cite book |last=Birnbaum |first=Paula |title=Women Artists in Interwar France: Framing Femininities |publisher=Ashgate |publication-place=Farnham, Surrey, UK, England Burlington, VT |year=2011 |isbn=9781351536714 |oclc=994145627 |ref=none}}
*{{cite book |last1=Ireson |first1=Nancy |last2=The Barnes Foundation |title=Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel |publisher=Paul Holberton Publishing |publication-place=London |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-913645-13-7 |oclc=1263777716 |ref=none}} Catalog accompanying exhibition at the Barnes Foundation.
*{{cite book <!-- Citation bot bypass--> |last=Storm |first=John |title=The Valadon Drama: The Life Of Suzanne Valadon |location=New York |publisher=Dutton |year=1958 |oclc=988270982 |url=https://archive.org/details/valadondramathel027482mbp |hdl=2027/uva.x000836363 |via=Internet Archive and HathiTrust |ref=none}} Reprinted in 2018 and 2017: {{ISBN|9781388181154|9781773230412}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{cite web |title= Valadon, Suzanne: Painter, Graphical Artist (France) |website=The Androom Archives |url=https://androom.home.xs4all.nl/index.htm?biography/p001790.htm |ref=none |access-date=2022-02-08}} A concise biography of Valadon.
*{{cite web |title=Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938, French) |website=THE GREAT CAT |date=2013-08-22 |url=https://www.thegreatcat.org/the-cat-in-art-and-photos-2/cats-in-art-20th-century/suzanne-valadon-1865-1938-french/ |ref=none |access-date=2022-02-08}} A gallery of her depictions of cats.
* {{cite web |last=Linchong |first=Victoria |title=Renoir's Art Model Was the Greatest Painter You Never Heard Of |date=15 Oct 2021 |website=Messy Nessy Chic |url=https://www.messynessychic.com/2021/10/15/renoirs-art-model-was-the-greatest-painter-you-never-heard-of/ |ref=none}}
*[https://www.apollo-magazine.com/suzanne-valadon-centre-pompidou-retrospective/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=APBR%20%2020250112%20%20AL&utm_content=APBR%20%2020250112%20%20AL+CID_2644ad4bdae68cf53ce55b2122b87856&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Apollo&utm_term=Suzanne%20Valadon Suzanne Valadon. Exhibition at Centre Pompidou in Paris (15 January–26 May, 2025); previously elsewhere].
*[https://www.barnesfoundation.org/whats-on/exhibitions/suzanne-valadon Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel. Exhibition at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, September 26, 2021 – January 9, 2022] [https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n05/bridget-alsdorf/at-the-barnes Review]

{{Suzanne Valadon|state=expanded}}
{{Pierre-Auguste Renoir}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valadon, Suzanne}}
[[Category:Suzanne Valadon| ]]
[[Category:1865 births]]
[[Category:1938 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century French painters]]
[[Category:20th-century French painters]]
[[Category:20th-century French women artists]]
[[Category:19th-century circus performers]]
[[Category:French artists' models]]
[[Category:French circus performers]]
[[Category:Members of the Ligue de la patrie française]]
[[Category:French modern painters]]
[[Category:People of Montmartre]]
[[Category:Burials at Saint-Ouen Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century French women painters]]