Gabrièle Buffet-Picabia (often spelled Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia; Buffet; 21 November 1881 – 7 December 1985) was a French art critic and writer affiliated with

Dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

. She was an organiser of the

French resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

and the first wife of artist

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, writer, filmmaker, magazine publisher, poet, and typography, typographist closely associated with Dada. When consid ...

Biography

Gabrielle Buffet was the daughter of Alphée Buffet and his wife, Laure ( Hugueteau de Chaillé). She studied music at the

Schola Cantorum The Schola Cantorum de Paris ( being ) is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History The Schol ...

in Paris with

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Pa ...

, later in Berlin with

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

. She grew up with a brother artist who painted in the classical manner (See:

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

), far removed from the visionary works of her future husband, the painter

, whom she married in January 1909. Her influence inspired Picabia to compose his paintings as musical pieces. Gabriele-et-francis-picabia-a-seville1909 01

Gabriele-et-francis-picabia-a-seville1909 01

In Zurich, Gabrielle and Francis met

Hans Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Ar ...

and

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, c ...

. In October 1912, while she was with her mother in the family home of Étival, Picabia rejoined her along with

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Poland, Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

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, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

. Apollinaire there completed his poem ''Zone'', which begins the cycle entitled '' Alcools''. This journey served as an inspiration to Duchamp who wrote four ''notes marginales, " Route Jura-Paris "'' from ''La Boîte de 1914''. Duchamp created a prelude to his work '' La Mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même''. On the basis of the meeting, a book was published with essays on

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

, ''Les peintres cubistes'', by Apollinaire, financed by Picabia. In the magazine ''View'', Charles Henry Ford describes her as one of the first to write a serious account of 'Duchamphenomena'. The marriage with Francis Picabia, which produced four children, Laure, Pancho, Jeanine and Vincente, ended in divorce in 1930.

In the Resistance

From 1941, during the Second World War, she was a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

in Paris, alongside

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

, Mary Reynolds, Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, and others. She was second in command in her region and her studio was a safe house for soldiers escaping via the Belgian-French line. Her daughter Jeanine was also in the resistance and the two of them avoided arrest. Others were arrested as their organisation was infiltrated and the Gestapo arrested another daughter, Marie, who was not a member of the resistance. Marie's husband was away and her children were without their mother so Gabrielle spent time with them in Lyon whilst still working for the resistance. Later, she was involved with Maurice Montet as he organised another line in the "south zone". Her significant contribution was later belittled possibly because others could not believe that a middle aged woman had been so involved. In fact, after Montet was arrested as a result of the double agent Jacques Desoubrie she left her place in Dieulefit and went further south climbing over the Pyrennes and travelling to Barcelona and Madrid. She went as far as Gibraltar where she was given a place to stay. She consulted with Donald Darling, a British diplomat and

MI9 MI9, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. During World War II it had two principal tasks: assisting in the escape of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) held b ...

member known as "Sunday". He had a flat in Main Street, Gibraltar and he organised for her to be evacuated by air to Britain.

Post-war

In 1967

Marcel Janco Marcel Janco (, ; common rendition of the Romanian language, Romanian name Marcel Hermann Iancu ; 24 May 1895 – 21 April 1984) was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect and art theorist. He was the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading ...

and Greta Deses made a film titled "Dada" which included interviews with

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

, Hans Richter and Gabrièle Buffet-Picabia. The film competed in the 2001

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

. In 1968 the

Hanover Gallery The Hanover Gallery was an art gallery in London. It was opened in June 1948 by the German art expert Erica Brausen and financier and art collector Arthur Jeffress at 32A St. George's Street, W1, and closed on 31 March 1973. It was named after ...

in London had an exhibition of her and her husband's work.

Death and legacy

She died in 1985 at the age of 104. In August 2017, ''Gabriëlle'', written by

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...

and Claire Berest, was published by

Stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

. The authors are great-granddaughters of Buffet-Picabia, and their biography underscores Buffet-Picabia's decisive influence within avant-garde circles. According to an interview with the Berests (Bibliothèque Médicis, 2017), a second volume of Buffet-Picabia's life may follow.

Filmography

* (1967 documentary by

and Greta Deses)

Selected publications

* ''Impressionnisme musical''. In: ''

Section d'Or The Section d'Or ("Golden Section"), also known as Groupe de Puteaux or Puteaux Group, was a collective of painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism. Based in the Parisian suburbs, the group held regular meetings ...

'', Nr. 1, 9. October 1912 * ''Modern Art and the public''. In: ''

Camera Work ''Camera Work'' was a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917. It presented high-quality photogravures by some of the most important photographers in the world. The goal of the journal was to establi ...

'', June 1913 * ''Musique d’aujourd'hui''. In: ''

Les Soirées de Paris ''Les Soirées de Paris'' was a French literary and artistic review founded in February 1912 by Guillaume Apollinaire and four of his associates - André Billy, René Dalize, André Salmon, and . It was last published in August 1914. «Les Soi ...

'', Nr. 22, March 1914 * ''

Jean Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Ar ...

'', Essay. In: ''L’Art abstrait'', Presses littéraires de France, 1952 * ''Aires abstraites''. Pierre Cailler Éditeur, Geneva 1957 (foreword by Jean Arp) * ''Picabia, l’inventeur''. In: ''L'Œil'', Nr. 18, June 1956 * ''DADA. Dichtungen der Gründer.'' Dada Gedichte von Andre Breton, Gabrielle Buffet, F. Hardekopf, Emmy Hennings, J. van Hoddis, R. Huelsenbeck, Marcel Janco, W. Kandinsky, Francis Picabia, Walter Serner, Ph. Soupault, Tristan Tzara. Peter Schifferli Verlags AG Die Arche, Zürich 1957 * ''Rencontres avec Picabia, Apollinaire, Cravan, Duchamp, Arp, Calder''. P. Belfond, Paris 1977, * ''Gabriëlle'', Anne Berest, Claire Berest, Paris, 450p, collection La Bleue, Stock, 2017,

Translations

Clemens Brentano Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (also Klemens; pseudonym: Clemens Maria Brentano ; ; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz a ...

, ''Histoire du brave Gaspard et de la belle Annette'', Paris, Mercure de France - Bruxelles, Nouvelle Revue de Belgique, 1942 *

Vassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in Odessa, where ...

, ''Regard sur le passé'', , 1946

References

External links

Fiche sur les site des Français libres

sur le site de l'INA
Correspondance avec André Breton

in jura-paris-centenary.com
Photograph of the Picabia, 1921
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffet-Picabia, Gabriele Dada 20th-century French essayists French art critics French women centenarians 1881 births People from Fontainebleau 1985 deaths French women art critics 20th-century French women writers French women essayists French Resistance members Francis Picabia