Hélène Vanel was a dancer, sculptor, and painter affiliated with the Surrealist movement of the 20th century. Not a great deal is known now of Vanel, though she was quite famous during her time.HALLETT, FLORENCE, ''REBEL DANCERS'', The New European, 19 July 2018

Early life

Vanel first arrived on the scene in 1921 when she joined the Margaret Morris Club, a school of dance in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 1923, Vanel, Morris, and Loïs Hutton began holding summer dance school in the town of Antibes in the French Riviera.

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

and the Murphys (a wealthy American couple that were the subjects in

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and exces ...

's ''

Tender is the Night ''Tender Is the Night'' is the fourth and final novel completed by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the French Riviera during the twilight of the Jazz Age, the 1934 novel chronicles the rise and fall of Dick Diver, a promising young ...

'') attended the groups Riviera performances. In 1924, after a disagreement with Morris, Vanel and Hutton split off from the Margaret Morris Club and formed their own dance school and company in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Vanel said that she "wanted to see dance freed from its conventions, giving greater importance to the dancer itself as an artistic material, seeing in the dancer lines, shapes and movements and a material, worked like stone or clay, but into which humanity has been kneaded". Vanel and Hutton were lovers, and their breakup in 1934 and subsequent business split made the news. Her fame already established, she was billed to perform at the

Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme The Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme was an exhibition by surrealism, surrealist artists that took place from January 17 to February 24, 1938, in the generously equipped Galérie Beaux-Arts, run by Georges Wildenstein, at 140, Rue du Faubo ...

, her act being one of the draws for the "right crowd" to come to the show.

Performance at the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme

Vanel's performance at the Exposition explored conventional and

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

ideas of

hysteria Hysteria is a term used to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, female hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that the bas ...

through dance, as well as an existing as a physical form of automatism. Hysteria at the time referred to a gendered condition thought to be caused by a wandering uterus. This condition precipitated into many symptoms of malaise, all thought to be directly correlated to the mental inferiority of women, though today in 2019 it is understood to be a product of

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

from

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

and verbal abuse within a society with no framework for discussing such things.

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and Aragon served as an orderlies in WW1, and observed how the PTSD of soldiers (termed war hysteria) was not a result of weakness. Hysteria was viewed by many Surrealist artists as a subversion of the status quo. The performance drew great critique from attendees and Vanel's fellow surrealists.

Dali Dali or DALI may refer to: Art and popular culture * Dali, a location in ''Final Fantasy IX'' * ''Dali'' (Dalida album) (1984) * ''Dali'' (Ali Project album) (1994) * Espace Dalí, Salvador Dalí's permanent exhibition in France Religion ...

said of her performance ''"She jetted from the wings like a tornado in an'' ''unbelievable movement that induced a demential delirium'' ''within all in attendance. She created a total uproar'' ''with her violent entrance, lunging up onto the bed,'' ''holding at arm's length a live rooster which cackled'' ''in terror. She herself began screaming in hysterical'' ''mimodrama as she rolled and contorted herself on'' ''the bed. She jumped up and down before throwing'' ''herself into the pond surrounded by reeds that we'' ''had set up in the middle of the room. (Dali 1973, 233)"'' Unfortunately, her historic part in the first Surrealist exposition did not garner the attention of many scholars.

Post Exposition

Vanel went on to continue her dance school and company after the exposition. A rare quote of hers reads ''"Dance, joyous and powerful expression of the enthusiasm for life, must have the same mission as poetry. It creates forms in time and space. Dance is the vertigo of matter...To recover the truth of being. To simultaneously acquire the sense of the invisible powers which attract us even while repelling us: Is this not a means of overcoming ourselves, of leaving behind marasmus and mediocrity, a method for attaining that magnificence that we have so shamefully abandoned."'' She went on to become a painter, sculptor, and a lecturer at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

References

External links

Photo links

* http://ryersonlib.tumblr.com/post/103809374854/invitation-to-a-performance-by-helene-vanel-at-her * https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-dark-side-surrealism-exploited-womens-hysteria * https://elephant.art/sunday-read-rhythm-colour/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanel, Hélène Year of birth missing Year of death missing 20th-century French dancers