FINDING ADELAIDE

In the fall of 2010, I read a wonderful article published in Women in The Arts (publication of the National Museum of Women in the Arts)  written by their chief curator, Jordana Pomeroy.  The article was entitled "A Series of Fortunate Decisions, Adelaide Labille-Guiard's Portrait of an Unknown Sitter".  It was about a discovery that Lieutenant Dennis and Kathleen Melander made while living in a rented house.  In 1958 while cleaning their living quarters, they found a burlap bag, in the flue, containing a small painting of an intriguing woman. The painting was signed with the letter "G".  Fate stepped in and their landlord told them to keep the "anonymous" work of art.  Years later, the couple's children decided to present the painting to the Smithsonian, where Dr. Philip Conisbee, curator of European paintings at the National Gallery of Art, attributed it to Adelaide Labille-Guiard.  It was suggested that the painting would thrive at the NMWA's galleries.  So this painting, found a home, for some period of time at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC, a great reason to visit the museum.

It is always interesting to discover and "meet" the artists we admire via the work in various museums across the world.  Since the focus of this blog post is Adelaide Labille-Guiard, here is a link to a collection of her work found in museums:

http://www.pinterest.com/palettesandpear/a-catalogue-of-adelaide-labille-guiards-work-and-w/

"Madame Adelaide" by Adelaide Labille-Guiard, 1787, Oil on Canvas, Chateaux de Versailles et de Trianon, France

The above painting by Labille-Guiard shows Madame Adelaide (daughter of Louis the XV)

next to an easel that displays carved images of her father- the late King, the  late Queen and the late Dauphin (her brother).  The frieze at the top shows a scene of her and sister Madame Victoire entering the room as her father, King Louis XV lies dying in bed of smallpox.  This painting was a tremendous success and Labille-Guiard was commissioned by Madame Adelaide to paint three large scale autographed reproductions, to be given as gifts.  One of these autographed copies hangs in The Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona. http://egallery.phxart.org/view/objects/asitem/4519/63/medium-asc;jsessionid=C126CD2DABCB014E4BD203F41883AF64?t:state:flow=2eec76ab-688b-4e36-9fd2-6004ac2c3eec

Many Thanks to the National Museum of Women in the Arts and Jordana Pomeroy http://www.nmwa.org

A wonderful resource,**"ADELAIDE LABILLE-GUIARD" - ARTIST IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTION" by Laura Auricchio**

"THE MENTOR"

Adelaide Labille-Guiard (1749-1803) was not only a gifted painter, but she was an important role model and teacher for women in the arts. The eighteenth century did not offer a friendly or conducive atmosphere for females to make a career out of being painters.   Labille-Guiard not having come from an artistic family, took lessons in her adolescence with miniature painter Francoise-Elie Vincent, later apprenticed with pastel master, Maurice Quentin de la Tour, then studied under neoclassical painter Francois-Andre Vincent (son of her first teacher and whom she married in 1800).  In 1774 she exhibited for the first time, a miniature painting and pastel with great success at The Academie of Saint-Luc's Salon (a rival guild and alternative to the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture).  Here she became  a renowned teacher, which gave her the ability to open her own studio, to teach female pupils.  In 1783, Labille-Guiard moved to a spacious apartment with several pupils on Rue de Richelieu in Paris.  By this time she had taken on mentoring at least  nine students:

•  Mademoiselle Victoire d’Avril
•  Mademoiselle Marie-Gabrielle Capet
• Mademoiselle  Madeleine Frumpy
• Mademoiselle  Rosemond (Mlle Carreaux de Rosemond)
• Mademoiselle  Alexandre
• Mademoiselle Marie-Thérèse de Noiterre
• Mademoiselle  Verrier (Mme Maillard)
• Mademoiselle Jeanne Bernard
• Mademoiselle  P. Hubert

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Of the above nine pupils, Marie-Gabrielle Capet was the most well known.
Marie-Gabrielle Capet (1761-1817) was one of the pupils depicted in Labille-Guiard's famous "Self-Portrait with Two Pupils".  She remained close to Labille-Guiard and her second husband Francois Andre-Vincent for all her years.  The three worked in the same atelier until the end of Labille-Guiard's life.  She became one of the most distinguished miniature painters of her day.  It is suggested in the biography of Adelaide Labille-Guiard ("Une Emule d'Adelaide Labille Guiard" by A. Doria) that Capet switched to miniatures so as not compete with her mentor Labille-Guiard.  

Marie-Gabrielle Capet ,Self-Portrait, 1783, now at theNational Museum of Western Art in Tokyo

Marie-Gabrielle Capet, "The Atelier of Madame Vincent ", painting from 1808, now in the Neue Pinakothek, Munich.
Madame Vincent is Adelaide-Labille Guiard--her name was adjusted after marriage to Francois-Andre Vincent.
Capet painted this after Labille-Guiard's demise, this painting shows Labille-Guiard painting Joseph-Marie Vien,
once a powerful director of the French Royal Academy in Rome, then later, Napoleon Bonaparte appointed him a
Senator.

Here is a link to a collection of miniatures by Capet :
http://www.pinterest.com/palettesandpear/the-miniatures-of-marie-gabrielle-capet/
As I researched Capet's miniatures, I was really struck by how lovely they were.  These tiny jewels deserve a museum exhibit!

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Labille-Guiard became the first woman artist to be granted an apartment at the Palace of the Louvre.  She requested an apartment from the arts ministry in 1785 but was refused. In 1792, her persistence for "the love of her art" finally paid off and she was granted the Louvre studio for herself and her pupils.

In 1791 Labille-Guiard petitioned the Academy to eliminate the"cap"of four being the maximum number of women allowed in the membership at one time. Since women members could not teach or hold office in the Academy, Labille-Guiard proposed that an unspecified number of women be admitted into the Royal Academy as "conseilleurs", an honorary title to which the privilege of exhibiting in the Salons was attached.  The motion passed and women, although did not achieve the rank of Academicians, were given the more practical alternative, a chance to exhibit in the Royal Salon.  

Labille-Guiard demonstrated her high aspirations as a woman in a time when it was against the odds to reach great heights for the female artist.  She went from a miniaturist, to working in a grand scale in oils.  "She was a feminist in both theory and in practice, opposing artificial barriers to the fulfillment of women's full potential and working to have those barriers removed.  Every later woman artist owes Adelaide Labille-Guiard a debt of gratitude." (excerpt taken from page186 "Women Artists 1550-1950", by Ann Sutherland and Linda Nochlin)

****FACT: Women were not permitted to study at the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture's classrooms or participate in their competitions. Although women could not receive an education at The Royal Academy, they did permit a VERY limited number of females as members. Immediate membership was granted to women, bypassing the "normal" requirements and training given by the Royal Academy to male prospective members. When Adelaide Labille-Guiard was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1783, the maximum number of women allowed was four.  A rival guild-- though not as prestigious as the Royal Academy-- The Academie de Saint-Luc, was much more accepting of women, its number of women members totaled 130 by 1777.****

**Many thanks to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, for assisting me with factual research on Adelaide Labille-Guiard.  Here is a link to their website  http://www.nmwa.org**

"ADELAIDE THE GREAT"

The first time I saw Adelaide Labille-Guiard's painting "Self-Portrait with Two Pupils" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City,  I could not take my eyes off of it.   It was clearly a masterpiece that both challenged and invited me to investigate its contents.   I have since then learned much about Adelaide and her remarkable career in the arts during the tumultuous time of the French Revolution.  

"Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, -Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818)

 and Marie Marguerite Carreaux de Rosemond (died 1788)", 

by Adelaide Labille-Guiard, Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Self-Portrait with Two Pupils" was exhibited in 1785 in the bi-annual Salon show of the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, the premier art establishment of the era, (participating artists were given the prestigious opportunity to exhibit in its members show held at Palace of the Louvre every two years). At the time, the Academy limited the number of women members to four.  The accepted four were -- Adelaide Labille-Guiard, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, Anne Vallayer-Coster and Marie-Therese Reboul.

"View of the Salon of 1785" by Pietro Antonio Martini, Metropolitan Museum of Art

 Above you can see, circled in red, where Adelaide's painting was hung.  Also shown in the same exhibition was Jacques-Louis David's "Oath of the Horatii"(center, second from top). The critics loved her "Self-Portrait with Two Pupils".  As a matter of fact, Adelaide's painting was so well received, that she was inspired to ask for lodging at the Louvre, a privilege that only male artists enjoyed.  She wanted to have her atelier at the great palace, where she could paint and teach. Her request was denied. It was argued, that since she was a teacher of young women, it was not a good idea to allow them in the same halls of the palace, where young male students studied with their mentors, this could possibly lead to indecent behavior at the Louvre.  In the end, she did not leave empty handed, Adelaide Labille-Guiard had the support and admiration of Madame Adelaide and her sister Victoire, Aunts of King Louis XVI , and she was awarded an annual pension of 1000 livres.  

The provenance of "Self Portrait with Two Pupils"  is fascinating.  This painting remained in Adelaide's family for about 100 years.  It was offered to the Louvre in about 1878 and they refused it.  In 1905 it was sold to a collector and in 1953, it was gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City by Julia A. Berwind.   What a wonderful stroke of luck for the Met, to own such a masterful work of art!

Although Adelaide had strong ties to the women of the royal family and she was appointed "Pientre des Mesdames"--"Painter of the Princesses of France" she became a supporter of the French Revolution.  She painted 14 members of the National Assembly, including Maximilien Robespierre, one of the leaders of the French Revolution.    The times were changing and she became a leader and advocate for the future of women and their rights to exhibit in the Academy.  You might say, she was definitely a woman of strong character.  She was a dedicated teacher to female artists , inspiring them to pursue a career in the arts, no matter what the obstacles.



INTERESTING BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS:


BORN  1749

DIED  1803

BIRTH PLACE  Paris, France

FAMILY  Youngest of eight children.  All her siblings died by the time she was a teenager.  Her father was a clothing merchant and had a boutique called "La Toilette".  Perhaps this explains Adelaide's keen eye for painting fabrics and textures.

Detail of "Portrait of a Woman", Musee des beaux-arts, Quimper, France

Detail of "Portrait of the Comtesse deSelve", Switzerland, Private Collection

Detail of "Portrait of a Woman Wearing a White Dress Lined
with Red Velvet",

EARLY STUDIES Studied miniature painting with Francois-Elie Vincent (her future second husband's father).  She also studied with French Pastel master Quentin de la Tour.

MARRIAGE(S)  Married to Nicolas Guiard in 1769, whom she divorced in 1779.  Married Francois-Andre Vincent in 1799.

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS:  Thomas Jefferson visited Guiard and paid her 240 livres
for a picture.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE: A wonderful monograph on Adelaide:  "Adelaide Labille-Guiard : "Artist In The Age Of Revolution" written by Laura Auricchio.

I will end this post with a poem written by a critic
who saw Adelaide's "Self-Portrait with Two Pupils" on display circa 1785:

I have blown kisses to the two mischievous faces on

Which the eye deliciously rests, and to the mouth

From which one could have such pleasure in hearing spoken the pretty

Word that you breathe, and that you have spoken

Sometimes with emotion, isn't it true, beautiful

Guyard?...But...I feel myself moved, ah Guyard!

Guyard! I must flee your eyes, I must...