Léontine Borreman

Léontine Borreman (25 December 1870 – 12 February 1936), nicknamed Titine, was a French anarchist milliner, stationer, singer, and possibly a sex worker.

Born in 1870, she emigrated to Brazil in the late 1880s, where she encountered anarchists and lived as a milliner and singer. Returning to Paris in 1893, Borreman joined the anarchist movement there, performing several times as a singer in the wine shop run by companions Louis Duprat and Louise Pioger—a prominent gathering place for the movement at the time. Six months after coming back, she was targeted during the wave of repression in early 1894: her home was raided, and she was imprisoned for a month before being released and cleared of all charges. Borreman married in 1900 and died next to Paris in 1936.

Her police mugshot is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET).

Biography

Birth, teenage years, youth Léontine Madeleine Borreman was born in the 1st arrondissement of Paris on 25 December 1870. Her father was a decorative painter.

At the age of 19, she left France for Rio de Janeiro. During her detention, she was photographed by Alphonse Bertillon before being released. The charges of 'criminal association' against her were dropped the following year. It is unknown when she returned to France.

Borreman died at the age of 65 at 8, sentier de la Croix-d’Eau in Le Perreux-sur-Marne on 12 February 1936, noted on the act as being Thissen's widow.

Legacy

Police mugshot Her police mugshot is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET).