Jeanne Forain (; 1865–1954) was a French painter and sculptor. She was the wife of the painter and caricaturist
Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain (23 October 1852 – 11 July 1931) was a French Impressionist painter and printmaker, working in media including oils, watercolour, pastel, etching and lithograph. Compared to many of his Impressionist colleagues, he was mo ...
.
Family and personal life
She was born in the
Marais
Marais (, meaning "marsh") may refer to:
People
* Marais (given name)
* Marais (surname)
Other uses
* Le Marais, historic district of Paris
* Théâtre du Marais, the name of several theatres and theatrical troupes in Paris, France
* Marais (c ...
district of Paris on 25 January 1865. Her father, Michel Bosc, taught French, Latin and Greek at the
Collège Rollin
In France, secondary education is in two stages:
* ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15.
* ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...
Auvers-sur-Oise
Auvers-sur-Oise (, literally ''Auvers on Oise'') is a commune in the department of Val-d'Oise, on the northwestern outskirts of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is associated with several famous artists, the most promine ...
, where they remained for several years. There the young Jeanne Bosc met
Camille Pissarro
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
, who encouraged her parents to allow her to study art. On the family's return to Paris, the 18-year old Jeanne Bosc studied with various teachers including
Louise Abbéma
Louise Abbéma (30 October 185329 July 1927) was a French painter, sculptor, and designer of the Belle Époque.
Biography
Abbéma was born in Étampes, Essonne. She was born into a wealthy Parisian family, who were well connected in the local ...
.
She married
Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain (23 October 1852 – 11 July 1931) was a French Impressionist painter and printmaker, working in media including oils, watercolour, pastel, etching and lithograph. Compared to many of his Impressionist colleagues, he was mo ...
in 1891. She and her husband travelled extensively in Europe and elsewhere, visiting the United States in 1893 and
Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
and Egypt in 1913. Their only child, a son named Jean-Loup, was born in 1895.
Work
Jeanne Forain specialized in portraits, particularly favouring children as subjects. Her style was influenced by Velázquez,
Quentin de la Tour
Maurice Quentin de La Tour (5 September 1704 – 17 February 1788) was a French Rococo portraitist who worked primarily with pastels. Among his most famous subjects were Voltaire, Rousseau, Louis XV of France, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.
...
and Hogarth. She exhibited a pastel portrait entitled ''Tête de jeune-fille'' at the Salon de la Société des artistes français in 1889, and participated in the Salon du Champs de Mars beginning in 1890. Her subjects were generally members of her family and the literary and artistic circles to which she and her husband belonged. In 1904
Henri de Régnier
Henri-François-Joseph de Régnier (28 December 1864 – 23 May 1936) was a French symbolist poet, considered one of the most important of France during the early 20th century.
Life and works
He was born in Honfleur (Calvados) on 28 December 18 ...
wrote to
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...
that Jeanne Forain was painting a portrait of
Pierre Louÿs
Pierre Louÿs (; 10 December 1870 – 4 June 1925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to "express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection". ...
. The critic
Armand Dayot
Armand Dayot, (19 October 1851 – 2 October 1934), was a French art critic, art historian and leftist politician. He was born in Paimpol, Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany. He founded the journal ''L'Art et les artistes'' and the Breton liberal organisa ...
wrote in 1921 that she "excelled at expressing... the first movements of thought, the first shivers of the soul".
In 1904 Jeanne Forain encountered a troupe of
puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...
s whose wagon had fallen into a ditch on the road near
Deauville
Deauville () is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its harbour, race course, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino, and sumptuous hotels. The first Deauville Asian Film Fes ...
. She took them to her house on the rue Spontini in Paris, where she organized a benefit performance for them. This experience led her to create her own
marionette
A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or reveale ...
theatre, which she called the Théâtre des Nabots. She sculpted most of the puppets' heads and bodies, while her society friends sewed costumes for the approximately 80 figures, representing dancers, princesses, jugglers and other characters. The head of one marionette, representing a young dancer, has been attributed to
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
, who was a close friend of Jeanne Forain and her husband. The proceeds from the puppet shows went to purchase clothing for poor Parisian children. Many of the puppets were later acquired by the French puppetteer and were sold at auction in 2014.
Jeanne Forain died in 1954 in
Le Chesnay
Le Chesnay () is a former commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from ...
, France. The
Musée Carnavalet
The Musée Carnavalet in Paris is dedicated to the history of the city. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. On the advice of Baron Haussmann, the civil servant wh ...
, the
Centre national des arts plastiques
The Centre national des arts plastiques (National Centre for Visual Arts, Cnap) is a French institution established in 1982 under the Ministry of Culture and Communication that promotes creation of visual arts. It provides assistance to artists and ...
, and the
Musée du Petit Palais
The Petit Palais (; en, Small Palace) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France.
Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...
own works by her. The first comprehensive solo exhibition of works by Jeanne Forain was held in the summer of 2016 at the in
Pont-Audemer
Pont-Audemer () is a commune in the Eure department in the Normandy region in northern France.