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Exhibition

Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel

September 26, 2021 – January 9, 2022

About the Exhibition

Praise for Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel:

“Revelatory… A thrilling tour of [Valadon's] portraits, nudes, still lifes, and drawings."
The New York Times

“A brilliant artist making breathtaking paintings that have the flat, colorful solidity of Gauguin, but a piercing intelligence and emotional insight.”
The Washington Post

“[A] maverick artist, who often drew from her own life to create a body of work that envisions the 20th-century woman.”
WHYY

“Breathing new life into rebellious early 20th-century art.”
Broad Street Review

Explore the life, art, and legacy of groundbreaking French painter Suzanne Valadon in her first major US exhibition.

From a childhood marked by poverty to a career as a popular artist’s model, Suzanne Valadon (born Marie-Clémentine Valadon, 1865–1938) defied the odds to become a successful artist, confounding societal expectations to assert her independence. The first self-taught woman to exhibit at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, she challenged behavioral codes with her art and lifestyle, breaking new ground with her unapologetic portraits and nudes.

This exhibition considers Valadon’s rich contribution to the early 20th-century art world, the artist’s agency in her career, and her business dealings and marketing strategies. Confrontational and witty, her works tackle themes that remain provocative today: female desire, the conflicts of marriage and motherhood, and a woman’s experience of her own physicality.

Exhibition Catalogue

Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel

$50

Copublished by the Barnes and Paul Holberton Publishing and edited by curator Nancy Ireson, this beautifully illustrated volume reconsiders the life and legacy of the revolutionary artist.

Exhibition Organization

This exhibition is curated by Nancy Ireson, Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes Foundation.

Sponsors

Major support for Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel has been provided by:

Additional support is provided by:

Denise Littlefield Sobel

John Alchin and Hal Marryatt

Ongoing support for exhibitions comes from the Christine and Michael Angelakis Exhibition Fund, the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Exhibition Fund, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and Aileen and Brian Roberts.

In addition, support for all exhibitions comes from contributors to the Barnes Foundation Exhibition Fund:

Joan Carter and John Aglialoro, Julia and David Fleischner, Leigh and John Middleton, Jeanette and Joe Neubauer

John Alchin and Hal Marryatt, Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, Lois and Julian Brodsky, N. Judith Broudy, Laura and Bill Buck, Elaine W. Camarda and A. Morris Williams, Jr., Eugene and Michelle Dubay, Penelope Harris, Christine and George Henisee, Jones & Wajahat Family, Lisa D. Kabnick and John H. McFadden, Marguerite Lenfest, Maribeth and Steven Lerner, Victoria McNeil Le Vine, Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, The Park Family, The Rittenhouse Hotel, Adele K. Schaeffer, Katie and Tony Schaeffer, Dr. and Mrs. Eugene E. Stark, Joan F. Thalheimer, Bruce and Robbi Toll, van Beuren Charitable Foundation, Kirsten White, Anonymous.