Marie-Thérèse Auffray (11 October 1912 – 27 September 1990) was a French painter and fighter in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. She began her career in the

14th arrondissement The 14th arrondissement of Paris ( ), officially named ''arrondissement de l'Observatoire'' (; meaning "arrondissement of the Observatory", after the Paris Observatory), is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is situ ...

of Paris and was known for her

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

works. She remained independent of the art market, whose mercantile codes she always rejected.

Biography

The Parisian years

Attached to her native Brittany, Auffray nevertheless left Saint-Quay-Portrieux at a young age, setting off for Paris in 1920, upon the death of her father. Gifted in the arts, she quickly joined the world of artists that settled in Paris during the

Années folles The ''Années folles'' (, "crazy years" in French) was the decade of the 1920s in France. It was coined to describe the rich social, artistic, and cultural collaborations of the period. The same period is also referred to as the Roaring Twen ...

and attended the workshops at 11

rue d'Alésia Rue d'Alésia is a major street in the south of Paris, which runs along the entire east-west length of the 14th arrondissement. It is one of the few streets in Paris named after a French defeat, or more precisely, a Gallic defeat: the Battle of ...

, in the

. Auffray was noted for her talent as a poster artist and illustrator, but also for her paintings (still lifes and portraits). She moved into her own studio at 21 rue Gazan in 1942, continuing to frequent the galleries in the nearby

. Her Parisian life was mainly spent in the art studio district of

Parc Montsouris Parc Montsouris is a public park situated in southern Paris, France. Located in the 14th arrondissement, it was officially inaugurated in 1875 after an early opening in 1869. Parc Montsouris is one of the four large urban public parks, along wit ...

Commitment to the Resistance

From the start of World War II, she joined the

, moving to Echauffour where she joined forces with another young resistant, Noëlle Guillou, her partner in life. As major figures of the Echauffour Resistance, they supplied Parisian resistance fighters with local produce from

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and are illustrated in heroic actions. Marie-Thérèse Auffray also saved Allied paratroopers, including the American aviator Arnold Pederson, for which U.S. President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

paid tribute to her.

Post-war

In 1945, Auffray exhibited at the Galerie Drouant-David and the Galerie Lucy Krohg, in Paris. In 1947, she and Noëlle Guillou opened Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat), an atypical inn, book-shop and discotheque in Normandy. Auffray built its bar in form of boat, recalling her Breton roots and the famous poem "

Le Bateau ivre "Le Bateau ivre" ("The Drunken Boat") is a 100-line verse-poem written in 1871 by Arthur Rimbaud. The poem describes the drifting and sinking of a boat lost at sea in a fragmented first-person narrative saturated with vivid imagery and symbolism. ...

" by French poet

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...

. Auffray split her time between Echauffour and Paris, where she retained her studio in the 14th arrondissement and continued to paint all her life. Her works were dispersed after her death, but, since the 2000s, Association MTA (acronym of its name) contributed to its rediscovery with several retrospectives recently devoted to Auffray: in 2016 (in Échauffour), in 2017 (in Paris, Orangerie du Sénat), and in 2018 (in Saint-Quay-Portrieux and Alençon).

Exhibitions and retrospectives

* 1945: Galerie Drouart-David (Paris), "The Great Contemporary Painters at the Service of Prisoners". * 1945: Lucy Krogh Gallery (Paris), ''Monographic exhibition'' (34 paintings) * 1950s and 60s: Salon d'Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon des Tuileries, Salon des Champs-Elysées, Salon of Women Painters. * 1962: Galerie du Colisée (Paris), ''Auffray retrospective'' (80 works) * 2016 : Échauffour, "Clin d'Oeil" * 2017: Orangery of the

Senate (France) The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' ...

, ''Retrospective''. * 2018: Saint-Quay-Portrieux Congress Center, ''Marie-Thérèse Auffray, painter and resistant 1912–1990''. * 2018: Retrospective at the Hôtel du Département de l'

Orne Orne (; nrf, Ôrne or ) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019.Alençon Alençon (, , ; nrf, Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department. It is situated west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people). History The name of Alençon is fi ...

Public tributes

* Marie-Thérèse Auffray Park, a public garden, was inaugurated in 2019 in the

14th arrondissement of Paris The 14th arrondissement of Paris ( ), officially named ''arrondissement de l'Observatoire'' (; meaning "arrondissement of the Observatory", after the Paris Observatory), is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is situa ...

, in the district where the artist had her studio and gallery.

References

Marie-Thérèse AUFFRAY
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External links

--> {{DEFAULTSORT:Auffray, Marie-Thérèse 1912 births 1990 deaths 20th-century French women artists French women in World War II French artists French Resistance members French women painters Modern painters 20th-century French painters