Mimi Parent (born Marie Parent; September 8, 1924June 14, 2005) was a Canadian

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

artist. For many years she lived and worked in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Her art is known for its symbolism, and the metaphorical use of existing objects, including human hair.

Early life

Marie Parent was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Canada. She was the eighth of the nine children of architect

Lucien Parent Lucien Parent (born ''Pierre Ovide Lucien Parent''; April 29, 1893 – May 27, 1956) was a prolific architect, designer, illustrator, and watercolorist. He and his wife Florence Courteau had a family of nine children. He was also a member of t ...

. Between 1942 and 1947 she studied art at the

École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région ...

where she met her future husband, fellow art student

Jean Benoît Jean Benoît (1922-2010) was a Canadian artist known as "The Enchanter of Serpents", most famous for his surrealist sculptures. While she was there, she studied under Alfred Pellan who influenced Parent's work. It was noted by some that she was an unruly student. Parent was later expelled from the school after joining a controversial artists' group, called Prisme d’yeux.

Career

In Canada, Parent identified with the Surrealist movement, as well as automatism, and in 1959, she became a member of the Paris Surrealist Group. Parent associated with other surrealist artists, such as Andre Breton and

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

. Parent participated in the International Surrealist Exhibition, devoted to Eros. During 1964–1967, Parent made Anti-Gaullist posters, and she was involved in protests in Paris in May 1968. Parent illustrated books for Guy Cabanel and Jose Pierre. Parent was most known for her 3D tableaux boxes. In these boxes, Parent would include figures and elements relating to mythology, folklore, and her unconscious imagination. Parent often incorporated elements of lunar and solar forces, representing masculinity and femininity. Parent was raised in a Catholic household, and her work showed influences of her faith and eroticism. Parent incorporated materials such as human hair, in her art objects. One of her well known pieces ''Maitresse'', 1996, was a whip, with the lash being composed of two braids of her hair. In 1947, she had her first one-woman exhibition at the Dominion Gallery in Montreal which received praise from ''Time''. In 1948, she received the Cézanne medal. That year, she married Benoit, and the two moved to Paris. On December 2, 1959, she participated in Jean Benoit's performance, ''L’Execution du testament du marquis de Sade'', a ceremony in which Benoit brands the letters SADE in his chest while dressed with accessories representing Eros and Thanatos. This ceremony established the two as centers of the Parisian surrealist group, led by Andre Breton. Between 1964 and 1967, they participated together in many soirees at the ''Le Ranelagh'' theatre in Paris, and in 1965, exhibited at the “L’Ecart absolu” exposition. She exhibited at the "Surrealist intrusion into the Enchanter's Domain" in New York in 1960 and in 1966 had a solo exhibition at the "Maya" gallery in

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 ...

. She also exhibited in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, London,

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. She assisted with the organization of the "Exposition inteRnatiOnale du Surréalisme" (EROS), which ran in Paris from December 1959 to the following February; although this is often attributed to

Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

, she came up with the ideas for the exhibit catalogue, titled ''Boite Alerte – Missives Lascives'', which was presented as a green box into which ideas could be 'posted'. Parent lived and worked in Paris, France and continued creating art in her later years. Following Andre Breton’s death and the Paris Surrealist Group’s disbandment, Parent went on to create what she referred to as “picture objects”. These included a mix between found objects sculptures and paintings. Then, her art medium turned to ink drawings. She had many solo exhibitions throughout her life (Galerie André-François Petit, Paris, 1984; Museum Bochum, 1984; Noyers-sur-Serein, 1992) and was active as an artist until the end of her days. Her most notable shows included ''Femininmasculin'', at the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

in Paris in 1995, ''La femme Et Le Surrealisme'', in Lausanne in 1987, ''Surrealism: Desire Unbound'', at the Tate Modern in London in 2001 and ''Paris And The Surrealists'', in Barcelona in 2005. In the fall of 1998, Galerie 1900–2000 in Paris organized a retrospective of her work and in 2004, the

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four bui ...

held a retrospective in which she and Jean Benoit were the subjects. She died June 14, 2005 in Switzerland and her ashes were scattered by Benoît at Château de

Lacoste Lacoste S.A. is a French company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur Mangkha. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The company can be recognised by its gree ...

, the estate of the

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusat ...

in Haute-

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

.Jean Benoît s'éteint à Paris , René Viau, collaboration spéciale , Arts visuels
. Cyberpresse.ca. Retrieved on February 25, 2011.

References

External links

in ''Le Monde'' (France) by Philippe Dagen
TheExquisiteCorpse: Mimi Parent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parent, Mimi 1924 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Canadian women artists Artists from Montreal Canadian multimedia artists Canadian surrealist artists École des beaux-arts de Montréal alumni Women surrealist artists