Jeanne Forain

{{Short description|French painter and sculptor}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Jeanne Forain | honorific_suffix = | image = Jeanne Forain au chapeau noir.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Jeanne Forain in 1891, by her husband | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = Jeanne Bosc | birth_date = 25 January 1865 | birth_place = [[Paris]], France | death_date = {{Death-date and age|1954|1865}} | death_place = [[Le Chesnay]], France | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = portraits in pastel and oil, [[marionette]]s | notable_works = | style = | movement = [[Post-Impressionism]] | spouse = [[Jean-Louis Forain]] | awards =  | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website =  | module = }}

'''Jeanne Forain''' ({{nee|'''Bosc'''}}; 25 January 1865 – 1954) was a French painter and sculptor. She was the wife of the painter and caricaturist [[Jean-Louis Forain]].

==Family and personal life==

She was born in the [[Le Marais|Marais]] district of Paris on 25 January 1865. Her father, Michel Bosc, taught French, Latin and Greek at the [[Collège-lycée Jacques-Decour|Collège Rollin]]. During the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870 her family moved to [[Auvers-sur-Oise]], where they remained for several years. There the young Jeanne Bosc met [[Camille Pissarro]], who encouraged her parents to allow her to study art. On the family's return to Paris, the 18-year old Jeanne Bosc studied with various teachers including [[Louise Abbéma]].<ref name="Florence">{{cite web|last1=Valdes-Forain|first1=Florence|title=Jeanne Forain, portraits d'une epoque|url=http://www.musees-haute-normandie.fr/IMG/pdf/dossierdepresse-ni2016-2.pdf|website=Communique de presse|publisher=Musee Alfred Canel|accessdate=7 November 2016|date=2016|archive-date=14 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214070954/http://www.musees-haute-normandie.fr/IMG/pdf/dossierdepresse-ni2016-2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

She married [[Jean-Louis Forain]] in 1891.<ref name="Ary Jean">{{cite web|title=Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931)|url=http://www.galeriearyjan.com/pdf-2-884-885-forain-jean-louis--le-foyer-de-l-opera-.htm|website=Galerie Ary Jean|accessdate=7 November 2016}}</ref> She and her husband travelled extensively in Europe and elsewhere, visiting the United States in 1893 and [[Istanbul|Constantinople]], the [[Holy Land]] and Egypt in 1913.<ref name=Karel>{{Cite book| publisher = Presses Université Laval| isbn = 978-2-7637-7235-6| last = Karel| first = David| title = Dictionnaire des artistes de langue française en Amérique du Nord: peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs, graveurs, photographes, et orfèvres| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xojsRTC5ttcC&pg=PA304|accessdate=7 November 2016|date = 1992}}</ref><ref name="Ary Jean" /> Their only child, a son named Jean-Loup, was born in 1895.<ref name="Figaro">{{cite news|last1=Valdes-Forain|first1=Florence|title=Jean-Louis Forain, correspondant de guerre et peintre camoufleur|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/histoire/centenaire-14-18/2014/09/30/26002-20140930ARTFIG00069-jean-louis-forain-correspondant-de-guerre-et-peintre-camoufleur.php|accessdate=7 November 2016|work=Le Figaro|date=30 September 2014}}</ref>

==Work==

Jeanne Forain specialized in portraits, particularly favouring children as subjects.<ref name=Benezit>{{Cite encyclopedia| publisher = Gründ| isbn = 2-7000-3075-3| title = Forain, Jeanne| encyclopedia = [[Benezit Dictionary of Artists]]| location = Paris| date = 2006}}</ref> Her style was influenced by [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]], [[Maurice Quentin de La Tour|Quentin de la Tour]] and [[William Hogarth|Hogarth]]. She exhibited a pastel portrait entitled ''Tête de jeune-fille'' at the [[Salon (Paris)|Salon de la Société des artistes français]] in 1889, and participated in the [[Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts|Salon du Champs de Mars]] beginning in 1890. Her subjects were generally members of her family and the literary and artistic circles to which she and her husband belonged. In 1904 [[Henri de Régnier]] wrote to [[André Gide]] that Jeanne Forain was painting a portrait of [[Pierre Louÿs]].<ref name=Gide>{{Cite book| publisher = Librairie Droz| isbn = 978-2-600-02465-5| authorlink=Henri de Régnier|last = Régnier| first = Henri de| title = Lettres à André Gide: 1891-1911| location = Geneva, Switzerland| accessdate=7 November 2016|date = 1972|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=54LRlX8IN2UC&pg=PA73}}</ref> The critic [[Armand Dayot]] wrote in 1921 that she "excelled at expressing... the first movements of thought, the first shivers of the soul".<ref name="Florence" />

In 1904 Jeanne Forain encountered a troupe of [[puppeteer]]s whose wagon had fallen into a ditch on the road near [[Deauville]]. She took them to her house on the rue Spontini in Paris, where she organized a benefit performance for them. This experience led her to create her own [[marionette]] theatre, which she called the Théâtre des Nabots. She sculpted most of the puppets' heads and bodies, while her society friends sewed costumes for the approximately 80 figures, representing dancers, princesses, jugglers and other characters. The head of one marionette, representing a young dancer, has been attributed to [[Edgar Degas]], who was a close friend of Jeanne Forain and her husband.<ref name="Degas">{{cite web|title=Une famille de marionettistes: Les Chesnais|url=http://www.artstalentsencheres.com/html/fiche.jsp?id=4013922|website=Arts Talents Encheres Bruxelles|accessdate=8 November 2016}}</ref> The proceeds from the puppet shows went to purchase clothing for poor Parisian children. Many of the puppets were later acquired by the French puppetteer {{Interlanguage link|Jacques Chesnais|fr}} and were sold at auction in 2014.<ref name=Chesnais>{{Cite news| last = Roussel| first = Frederique| title = La collection Chesnais au fil des enchères| work = Libération.fr| accessdate = 25 October 2016| date = 20 June 2014| url = http://next.liberation.fr/theatre/2014/06/20/la-collection-chesnais-au-fil-des-encheres_1046455}}</ref>

Jeanne Forain died in 1954 in [[Le Chesnay]], France. The [[Musée Carnavalet]], the [[Centre national des arts plastiques]], and the [[Petit Palais|Musée du Petit Palais]] own works by her. The first comprehensive solo exhibition of works by Jeanne Forain was held in the summer of 2016 at the {{Interlanguage link|Musée Alfred-Canel|fr}} in [[Pont-Audemer]], France.<ref name="Florence" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8452796c ''Programme du Théâtre des Nabots'' at the National Library of France] *[http://www.tl1.tv/videotheque/reportages-infos/1265-exposition-jeanne-forain.html Opening of the Jeanne Forain exhibition at Musée Alfred Canel de Pont-Audemer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109083534/http://www.tl1.tv/videotheque/reportages-infos/1265-exposition-jeanne-forain.html |date=2016-11-09 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forain, Jeanne}} [[Category:1865 births]] [[Category:1954 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century French painters]] [[Category:20th-century French painters]] [[Category:20th-century French women painters]] [[Category:19th-century French women painters]]