Jacqueline Marval

Jacqueline Marval was the pseudonym for Marie Josephine Vallet (19 October 1866 – 28 May 1932), who was a French painter, lithographer and sculptor.

Early life Vallet was born in Quaix-en-Chartreuse into a family of school teachers. She was married in 1886, to a traveling salesperson, Albert Valentin, but separated from her husband in 1891 after the death of her son. before moving to Paris in 1900. In 1900 Vallet took on the pseudonym Jacqueline Marval, "Marval" being the composite of her first and last name "MARie VALlet".

Career as an artist

In 1894, Marval met the painter and began living with him in Paris, where she was introduced to Les Nabis group. Girot introduced her to Jules Flandrin, another painter and a student of Gustave Moreau. The two fell in love, and Marval left Girot to move in with Flandrin in Rue Campagne-Première, in the Montparnasse area. She would live with him as his companion for 20 years. As an artist, Marval worked primarily as a painter; however, she also made "lithographs, watercolours, pastels, engravings, tapestry designs and experimented with sculpture."

In 1902, several of her paintings were displayed alongside works by Flandrin, Albert Marquet, and Henri Matisse in a gallery in Rue Victor-Massé curated by Berthe Weill, who was particularly interested in promoting the works of female artists living in Paris. The series was based on the Ballets Russes' production of Daphnis et Chloë , performed the year prior.

Also in 1913, Marval protested against the removal from the Salon d'Automne of Kees van Dongen's The Spanish Shawl, and became friends with Van Dongen, setting up her studio near his. Marval and Flandrin moved into 40 rue Denfert Rochereau, which was next door to Van Dongen in 1914.

Critical reception and legacy Critics gave Marval high praise during her career. In a 1911 issue of The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, for example, it was written that at an exhibition at the Druet Gallery, "The paintings of Madame Marval were among the most striking..." Apollinaire, aside from his compliments to Les Odalisques, more generally makes comments on her work that refer to it as exciting, strong, and worthy of recognition. Some critics referred to her as a Fauve, a reflection of her choice of palette, which was heavily influenced by Fauve and Impressionist painters who came before her.

The Papillon Gallery wrote that "Marval's paintings are provocative and edgy, challenging and unusual, she was an important modernist at the earliest moments of the movement."

Gallery