Émilie Charmy: The Female Fauve

Émilie Charmy: The Female Fauve
Connaught Brown – Until 23 Dec, 2021 London (UK)

Connaught Brown is delighted to present an exhibition of paintings by Emilie Charmy, spotlighting a pioneering artist who broke into male-dominated circles of the 20th century Parisian avant-garde.

Born Émilie Espérance Barret on April 2, 1878 in Saint-Étienne, she adopted the family name Charmy when she moved to Lyon in 1898. She studied painting with Jacques Martin.

In 1903, Charmy moved to Paris, then the epicenter of modernist painting. She begins to use a freer and more intense palette alongside Matisse. Marquet and Camoin. The latter becoming her lover. During this time, she also turned to what would be her most daring subject – the female nude.

Salon des Indépendants.

In less than a year, she exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants and was at the forefront of Parisian modernism. During the seminal Salon d’Automne in 1905, in which Louis Vauxcelles coined the term “fauvism”. Charmyt’s work caught the attention of Berthe Weill. Whose gallery was the first to sell works by Picasso in Paris. As Charmy’s reputation grew, her work was selected for international exhibitions. In particular at the Armory Show of 1913 alongside other Fauve artists; Matisse, Manguin, Rouault and Camoin.

Second World War.

With the outbreak of World War II. Attention to Charmy’s work began to wane. Although she continued to paint and exhibit until the late seventies. she never regained the recognition she enjoyed before the war. She died in 1974 at the age of 96.

This exhibition consists of paintings from an important private collection. Presented together for the first time in a single exhibition in London. Charmy’s works are now in the Musée de Grenoble. At the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Connaught Brown→  2 Albemarle Street London, UK W1S 4HD

◊

Use our Art Geolocation App