ABSTRACT
Marie Laurencin’s artistic and personal trajectories provide compelling testimony to how a creative woman fashioned a new beginning for herself after the Great War. Dubbed the “muse” of Picasso’s Bateau Lavoir group in pre-war Paris and recognised as an accomplished painter in her own right, her fortune took a turn when she married a German in June 1914. Having terminated a relationship with Apollinaire because of his infidelity, she found herself exiled to Spain with a husband whose country was the enemy. Whereas many women assumed responsibilities in the workforce when men left for the front, Laurencin was isolated and beset with depression. After her divorce in 1920, she returned to a Paris that was reeling from the conflict but was also energising artists and writers who were eager for new beginnings. Laurencin began designing sets and costumes for the Ballets Russes, notably, for their production of Les Biches. Furthermore, she was in demand as a portrait painter, illustrator, and graphic artist. In the 1930s, Laurencin also became a prominent member of the Société des Femmes Artistes Modernes. The interwar period thus saw this important femme peintre embrace new creative pursuits and develop a distinctive style that still challenges interpretation.
