Suzanne Valadon: Another Underrated Female Artist.
The cobble-stoned Parisian streets in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were filled with the creative geniuses who changed the path of art expression forever. Both men and women were a part of this era; however, it feels that documentation forgets that at times. Suzanne Valadon wore many hats during her time spent in the Parisian elite art scene. She is remembered as a model, painter, lover, mother, innovator, and more. Her amassed array of diverse experiences enabled her to shatter basic gender norms for women in art while also increasing female engagement with society’s art scene. Suzanne Valadon's masterpiece The Blue Room from 1923 encompasses her career's empowering transformations by projecting her personal experience to represent the complex layers of womanhood in the most strategic, yet rebellious manner of any artist of her time. (Figure 1)
Valadon lived a life unlike any other while living in Paris during a true golden age. The men and women of this society challenged one another to be more remarkable than the next. The artists of Montmartre were not only evolving together, but were all in similar social circles. The relationships Valadon associated herself with make for notable stories that demonstrate her beauty and charm; however, her affairs with well-revered artists seem to be the leading highlight of her identity in art historical literature. Her career should be analyzed with far more weight than those she chose to love. Valadon was more than a mistress. All women are more than just lovers. Women are wives, painters, academics, mothers, sisters, mistresses, and all. No single role accurately captured Valadon’s existence because she was a rebel of her time in the most effervescent way. Scholars who argue documentation of Valadon’s holistic identity refer to other art historians, who focus more on her affairs, as attributors to a form of “thinly disguised peeping-tomism” (Lipton 84). The normalization of this pestering occurring more with females than males is a prime example of why there are so few female artists documented equally to men in the history of art. Interestingly enough, scholars speak of Valadon as if it is a mystery why she decided to paint in the first place. The fact that her decision to pursue art is an imponderable mystery in itself is a blatant red flag for exemplifying a gender-biased blind spot in art historical literature when documenting female painters. Artists, such as Vincent van Gogh, who also came from impoverished backgrounds were analyzed strictly based on how they acquired their knowledge and resources rather than being attacked on their internal grit, passion, and desire to fulfill the artistic talents within them. Valadon, on the other hand, is questioned far too much on her innate artistic abilities in art history in comparison to her male counterparts. Only knowing how it felt to be the muse, sparked Valadon’s curiosity causing her to question the gazer’s experience in art creation which ultimately began her most fascinating adventure yet.
“Only knowing how it felt to be the muse, sparked Valadon’s curiosity causing her to question the gazer’s experience in art creation which ultimately began her most fascinating adventure yet.”
As a self-taught painter, Valadon projected her personal experience on her works while also utilizing leading female portraiture of the past. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ notable The Grand Odalisque of 1814 (Figure 2) coupled with Titian’s Venus of Urbino of 1538 (Figure 3) are two archetypes of the ‘passive woman’. Both compositions play into their meanings; however, they both represent an ideal, dream woman for a man. She is to be possessed and owned. She is to be available to a man’s sexual desires because of the belief that a man’s sexual fulfillment is a need or necessity. This idea that a man’s hunger for sexual pleasure is mandatory for survival is outlandish because how often is a woman’s sexual fulfillment discussed in such a way? Society’s narrative implemented the ideal that “Women see themselves through men’s eyes” and Valadon set out to revert this insight (Betterton 6). Her works empowered female viewers to look, analyze, and be affected by images of women through their own eyes and not what they believe men would see when looking at it. Valadon’s ability to shift the narrative of the human gaze with her work captures the power and complexities of her artistic capabilities.
“Her works empowered female viewers to look, analyze, and be affected by images of women through their own eyes and not what they believe men would see when looking at it. Valadon’s ability to shift the narrative of the human gaze with her work captures the power and complexities of her artistic capabilities.”
Nude female portraiture is a leading pillar of art historical genres. Depictions of nude women are intertwined with western culture which enables the ideology of insistent fetishizing of the female body. Valadon tackled two questions that must be faced by all-female artists: “what does it mean to look from a women’s point of view…[and] how do women appear in the images made by women?” (Betterton 4). Challenging the cultural relationships between the passiveness of femininity and the activeness of masculinity would need to end in an entire cultural paradigm shift. Valadon aided the movement in redefining the understandings of gender perception and depiction. The Blue Room best exemplifies her groundbreaking fearlessness. She was one of few feminist artists who successfully and strategically changed the form of the female body to “inhibit male voyeuristic pleasure” to deconstruct the violating male gaze (Lipton 93). Although the female of The Blue Room is fully-clothed, Valadon’s stylistic choices represent the shared theme of the reclining woman. The Blue Room displays a curvy reclined woman. Her reclined position is not to express availability to the viewer, but rather for comfort while also being slanted towards the left foreground as if one has just intruded her space as an unanticipated visit. Her body language and facial expression represent independence because the bedroom is her space and belongs to no one else. Her unbothered facial expression exemplifies the idea of her laissez-faire attitude to whoever may or may not be there. Her passiveness creates intrigue and and a sense of mystery to the viewer because of its entirely different approach to female expression. Typically, when a female is powerfully depicted to the audience in a composition, she is staring directly at the viewer entirely unbothered. If anything, Valadon empowers the female viewer since she expresses a true experience of womanhood. Women are just as capable to lounge independently with comfort at the forefront of their minds. Women can think, care, and act how they so please just as men do. Valadon exemplifies inner beauty and redefines the idealistic female. The female figure is not trying to capture the attention of anyone because she is simply that confident and independent. To subtly acknowledge the strong female presence, the viewer naturally shifts their eye from the cigarette to her curves in line with the colored, lined pants. Once the viewer’s gaze meets her feet, the image is balanced between the stack of books, the pattern of the blanket, and her bare feet. The nonchalant woman is not the only rebellious symbol for all a woman can be. The two books are a deep red and a highlighted yellow severely contrasting the blue patterned comforter. The books alone are symbolic of the freedom a woman has to observe and establish her own philosophies of the world around her. As the books lie on the Japonisme inspired blanket, the viewer can take note of the flat patterns that are incorporated throughout the entirety of the image. There is a balance of consistency with color and form coupled with a sense of chaos in the choice of a unique color palette. The expressive brushstrokes which Valadon painted on the wall behind the female figure could be viewed as abstracted characters from an Eastern foreign language. The plethora of international influence is a key indicator of Valadon’s observant attention to the trends and interests of both post-impressionists and symbolists at the time.
“She was one of few feminist artists who successfully and strategically changed the form of the female body to ‘inhibit male voyeuristic pleasure’ to deconstruct the violating male gaze.”
Valadon is accredited as one of the most influential feminist painters of the nineteenth century. The rebellious nature Valadon had to destruct representational forms which had been established for centuries exemplifies who she was. The decedent, nonchalant woman in The Blue Room was and remains an encouraging inspiration for society to break the status quo, and discover what fulfills their soul no matter who is watching. Valadon’s life was a constant quest to answer curiosities in all fields. Whether it was through her artwork or personal life, she never failed to present her charismatic, rebellious attitude which changed the definition of the Western woman forever.
Works Cited
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