Painting Her Pleasure

Three Women Artists and the Nude in Avant-Garde Paris
Painters Marie Vassilieff, Émilie Charmy and Suzanne Valadon explored sexuality and questioned gender identity. Working in early twentieth-century Paris, these women contravened social mores, challenged traditional and avant-garde artistic practices and partook in the making of the modern nude.

An inspiring account of three women artists who pioneered new forms of the nude.

Even in the bohemian world of avant-garde Paris, certain rules had to be obeyed. One of these rules was that women artists did not paint nudes. Yet three women would challenge this prohibition, offering their own distinct takes on the classic genre.

Suzanne Valadon, Émilie Charmy and Marie Vassilieff painted in different styles, but they were united in their fascination for the nude. Their artistic explorations saw them experimenting with a range of cutting-edge subjects, including the male nude, the Black female nude, the pregnant nude and the nude self-portrait, a genre that few artists would tackle until half a century later.

Painting her pleasure situates the work of Valadon, Charmy and Vassilieff within and against modernism, drawing parallels with later feminist artists and philosophers. Unravelling the complexities of early twentieth-century gender regimes and persistent cultural stereotypes, it provides an illuminating history of women, sexuality and the body.

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