Jane Graverol (1905–1984), was a Belgian surrealist painter of French extraction.

Life

Jane Graverol was born in Ixelles on 18 December 1905 to Alexandre Graverol and Anne-Marie Lagadec. After a traditional education, she enrolled in the

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in 1921, where she was taught by

Jean Delville Jean Delville (19 January 1867 – 19 January 1953) was a Belgian people, Belgian symbolist painter, author, poet, polemicist, teacher, and Theosophist. Delville was the leading exponent of the Belgian Idealist movement in art during the 1890s. ...

and

Constant Montald Constant Montald (Ghent, 4 December 1862 – Brussels, 5 March 1944) was a Belgian painter, muralist, sculptor, and teacher. Biography Early years In 1874, while receiving an education in decorative painting at the technical school of Ghent du ...

. She started painting between 1920 and 1930, this was before the rise of surrealism, and before she adapted the style she is known for today. Her works from that time bear the stamp of symbolism. Between 1960 and 1970, when the popularity of surrealism decreased, she mainly painted compositions focusing on subjects like war and violence. This is also when she painted her flora and fauna works. She began to exhibit her work in 1927. During the last twenty years of her life, she was the companion of

Gaston Ferdière Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) *Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston I ...

. She died in

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

on 24 April 1984.

Works

Graverol was closely linked to the development of surrealism in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. She would progressively consider her

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

es to be "waking, conscious dreams," and her encounters after the war with René Magritte,

Louis Scutenaire Louis Scutenaire (29 June 1905 – 15 August 1987) was a poet, anarchist, surrealist and civil servant. Born Jean Émile Louis Scutenaire in Ollignies, Belgium, he died in Brussels. Life Louis Scutenaire is chiefly remembered as a central figu ...

, and

Paul Nougé Paul Nougé (12 February 1895 – 6 November 1967) was a Belgian poet, founder and theoretician of surrealism in Belgium, sometimes known as the "Belgian Breton". Biography Born of a French father who originated from the Charent region in Fra ...

, then

Marcel Mariën Marcel Mariën (29 April 1920 – 19 September 1993) was a Belgian surrealist (later Situationist), poet, essayist, photographer, collagist, and filmmaker. Mariën was a pivotal member of the Belgian wing of the Surrealist movement. In addition ...

, with whom she collaborated on the periodical

'' merely reconfirmed her in her beliefs. Her painting ''La Goutte d'eau'' is a collective portrait of the Belgian surrealists. She offered an original, dreamy version of Femininity, feminine sensibility in painting, served by a figurative technique that was both precise and cold.

Legacy

In 2018, Graverol was mentioned in a short documentary of

Gloria Feman Orenstein Gloria Feman Orenstein (born 1938 in Brooklyn) is a feminist art critic, pioneer in the field of the women of Surrealism and scholar of ecofeminism in the arts. Orenstein's ''Reweaving the World'' is considered a seminal ecofeminist text which ...

Cheri Gaulke Cheri Gaulke (born 1954) is a visual artist most known for her role in the Feminist Art Movement in southern California in the 1970s and her work on gay and lesbian families. Biography Gaulke holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Minneapolis ...

, ''Gloria's Call''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graverol, Jane 1905 births 1984 deaths Belgian surrealist artists Women surrealist artists Belgian women painters 20th-century Belgian painters People from Ixelles Surrealist artists