Le Chapeau sur les Yeux

 

Marie Laurencin

  1883 - 1956 (biography)

1923 / printed later 

etching with hand-coloring 

3 5/16 x 2 3/4" platemark 

unsigned 

unnumbered, from an edition of 250 

 

Machesseau 67 

ivory Arches BFK Rives wove 

published 

artist 

21856 

$350.00 

The extraordinary life of Marie Laurencin may not have been especially unique by today’s standards, but it was controversial at the time – and she lived it openly. Born to an unwed mother in 1883, she came to art through her own means and lived as an openly bisexual woman involved in the French avant-garde. Laurencin’s work showed a defiance of the gendered social expectations of women in the early 20th century by turning the proverbial tables. She enjoyed painting beautiful women for the sake of their beauty, much like her male counterparts would do, and only took portrait commissions from men when absolutely necessary –charging them double what she did women. This small etched portrait is from her most well-recognized period, that between the World Wars, in which she was the most prolific.