Jacqueline Marval Odalisque with Cheetah 1900 Oil on canvas Private collection Former collection of the Petit-Palais, Geneva, private collection © archives Raphaël Roux dit Buisson
On the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, we wish to pay tribute to Jacqueline MARVAL, the one who paved the way for free feminine painting (René-Jean (1879-1951), art critic, French curator).
Jacqueline MARVAL (1866-1932) lived and worked in Paris alongside Henri Matisse, Kees Van Dongen, Jules Flandrin, Othon Friesz, Albert Marquet… Born in Isère in 1866, she moved to Paris in 1897, driven by a love of freedom. She left her work as a waistcoat maker for painting and quickly achieved success. Ambroise Vollard acquired her canvases as early as 1901. Exhibited at the Salon d’Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon National des Beaux-Arts, and at the Carnegie International Exhibition, she was shown at the Berthe Weill gallery in 1902 alongside Marquet and Matisse, then at the Galerie Druet. She was then praised by critics.
She wished to exhibit with the men and never considered herself a woman painter, but as a painter. She never understood why artists should be categorized by their gender, feminine or masculine. She always refused to exhibit exclusively with “fellow women artists” (Statement by Pierre Varenne in “Le Dictionnaire Biographique des Artistes Contemporains,” 1910-1930, Édouard Joseph, Paris, 1931). During her lifetime, Jacqueline MARVAL also suffered from sexist classification that emphasized her gender rather than her art.
The newspaper Minerva, which compiled the “referendum of French princesses” according to their art (painting, cinema, dance, theater, singing, fashion, sculpture…), was obliged to remove the name of Jacqueline MARVAL, who wrote: Would you kindly do me the great favor of removing my name from your list and publishing this letter in your next issue for those of your readers who intended to give me their votes so that they may cast them elsewhere. I do not accept to compete for a title, even that of princess, in this new armorial.
Today, fortunately, things are evolving and the work of Raphaël Roux dit Buisson and Camille Roux dit Buisson contributes to the recognition of Jacqueline MARVAL, pioneer of fashion painting.