Violette Clarisse Mège (March 19, 1889 – May 12, 1968) was an Algerian-born French artist, and teacher and wife of artist
Michael Baxte
Michael Posner Baxte (January 27, 1890 – 1972) was an American violinist and painter, born in Staroselje, Belarus. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics ...
.
Early life
Mège was born to European parents Gaston Mège and Emma Barry,
[Federal District, Mexico, Civil Registration Deaths, 1861-1987 for Violette Mege de Baxte, Partido Nóm. 194, Cuauhtémoc, 1968. From Ancestry.com.] in
Chabet el Ameur
Chabet el Ameur ( ar, شعبة العامر, kab, Tacɛabet) is a town and commune in Boumerdès Province, Algeria. According to the 1998 census it has a population of 30,223.
History
* First Battle of the Issers
The First Battle of the Issers ...
, Algeria. In 1914, Mège was the first woman to win a major
Beaux Arts competition in Algeria, and won a scholarship to study art in France.
Career
In Paris, Mège exhibited her art in 1916 and won another scholarship; with the money, she moved to New York with her sister, Emma. She exhibited her colorful still life paintings, street scenes, and portraits in New York beginning in 1917. "Miss Mege wastes no paint in telling her story," commented a New York reviewer in 1918. "There is an absence of detail often, but that only makes the work larger in effect." She was part of group shows at the
Macdowell Club in 1918, and at the
Waldorf in 1919 with the
Society of Independent Artists.
In the early 1920s, Mège was a member of the board of directors of Salons of America, an exhibition organization for contemporary American artists. She had a solo show in 1930 at
Alma Reed
Alma Marie Sullivan Reed (1889–1966) was an American journalist. While working in Mexico in the 1920s, she fell in love with the Governor of Yucatán, Felipe Carrillo Puerto; however, he was assassinated while she was home in San Francisco pre ...
's Delphic Studios in New York,
before she moved to France with her husband. They moved again, to Mexico City, in 1941, to escape wartime Europe. By 1942, she was exhibiting her work in Mexico City. She taught her husband to paint, and he became a notable artist.
Personal life
Violette Mège was married to the Belarus-born American musician and artist
Michael Baxte
Michael Posner Baxte (January 27, 1890 – 1972) was an American violinist and painter, born in Staroselje, Belarus. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics ...
.
Mège died in 1968, aged 79 years.
References
External links
* Tony Burton
"Algerian-born painter Violette Mège painted Ajijic in the 1940s"''Lake Chapala Artists'' (February 13, 2020). A blogpost about Mège.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mege, Violette
1889 births
1968 deaths
French women artists
Algerian people of French descent