Paule Vézelay

Paule Vézelay (; 1892–1984) was a British painter, known for her abstract art.

Early life and education Vézelay was born Marjorie Watson-Williams in Bristol, a daughter of a pioneering surgeon, Patrick Watson-Williams (1863–1938). Before the First World War she trained for a short period at the Slade School of Fine Art and then at the London School of Art. She also studied at Bristol School of Art and Chelsea Polytechnic.

Life and work Cotton textile samples designed for Metz & Co by Paule Vezelay. Vézelay first gained recognition as a figurative painter, with her first London show in 1921. She was invited to join the London Group in 1922.

Vézelay moved to France in 1926 and changed her name to Paule Vézelay possibly to identify herself with the School of Paris, although she is recorded as saying it was “for purely aesthetic reasons”. Vezelay became well respected in modernist Parisian art circles and was elected in the 1930s to membership of the French abstract movement, Abstraction-Création, which was largely established as a reaction to surrealism. as a source of income but continued to produce abstract paintings.

Vézelay was included in Pallant House's Radical Women exhibition, which displayed the works of Jessica Dismorr and her contemporaries, in early 2020.

The Royal West of England Academy in Bristol organised a major retrospective of her work from 25 January 2025 until 27 April 2025. Tate, London: 23 works (as of 24 December 2024)