Suzanne Valadon: Model, Artist, Rebel at the Barnes Foundation By Paula Roberts
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magine that you, a lover of turn-of-the-century French painting, discover a major artist of that period, someone you’ve never heard of—yet someone perhaps to set beside Matisse, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and van Gogh as an inventor of modernism in art. The Barnes Foundation has
introduced us to that artist in its current special exhibition, on view through January 9th. Suzanne Valadon: Model, Artist, Rebel is the first U.S. solo retrospective of the work of Suzanne Valadon (1865–1935), the groundbreaking modelturned-artist whose cool-eyed yet empathetic art pushed forward the modern in technique and attitude. The first woman painter admitted to the Société
Nationale des Beaux-Arts, she had a successful 40-year career but is now largely forgotten, overshadowed, ironically, by her son, Maurice Utrillo. As exciting as her drawings and paintings are in themselves, the show is almost equally concerned with the remarkable string of “firsts” she brought about in both art and society. As Barnes executive direc-
tor Thom Collins expressed it, Valadon’s career is essentially about representation and access. Who is permitted to be represented in art? Who is “authorized” to be the maker of that art? To a large degree, it was Valadon who challenged and changed assumptions about both. Valadon was born in 1865, fatherless, to a woman who moved with her to Paris,
Center City Philadelphia's Community Newspaper November 17, 2021
Reading Terminal Market announces New Holiday Shopping for Thanksgiving, HanukGuide and a Time For Joy holiday experience ers kah, Christmas, and Kwan-
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eading Terminal Market today announced the release of its 2021 Holiday Shopping Guide alongside plans for its brand new A Time for Joy holiday experience. Customers can expect the traditions they know and love as well as new seasonal surprises from Philadelphia’s historic public market. A Time for Joy is sponsored by Independence Medicare. The Reading Terminal Market Holiday Shopping Guide is a physical and digital publication outlining all of the options available to custom-
A savory chicken and the trimmings from the Reading Terminal Market
zaa. Inside the guide is a complete list of where to find traditional holiday foods as well as new flavors for your feast. Order by deadlines and pickup instructions are outlined by specific merchant. Beginning Friday, November 26, Reading Terminal Market will host A Time for Joy, its brand new holiday celebration which includes a series of programming and events as well as a spectacular holiday décor display featuring a life-sized gingerbread house, giant snowflakes and ornaments, and more. Running through De
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City Safari: Philadelphia: City and Suburban crime trends By Thom Nickels Contributing Editor
say about Philadelphia. “How can people still live there?” “It’s unbelievable what people ow that Larry Krasthere will put up with it.” ner has been reelect- “That mayor is a disgrace.” “It ed Philadelphia DA, was nice twenty five years ago. after every shooting or murder It’s all gone to hell.” in the city, critics of Krasner Philadelphia’s internaare quick to point out on social tional reputation has suffered media that Philadelphia is get- tremendously in the last ting what it deserves. twenty-plus years. In 2010, “Philadelphia, you voted Louis Theroux’s film, Law and him in again, so this is your Disorder in Philadelphia, was a karma. Enjoy!” sensation throughout Europe. Krasner’s reelection has Among Europeans, Philadelbeen devastating for the city phia was no longer thought when it comes to the city’s of as the City of American Inreputation. I was in Florida dependence and as the home recently where I met a number of The Founding Fathers. The of ex-Philadelphians and resi- great historic houses here, the dents of South Jersey. Many Liberty Bell, Carpenter’s Hall, of them had horrible things to
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where she scraped a living as a housecleaner and laundress. After a brief career as a circus acrobat, Valadon became an artist’s model at age 15. She was a very good one, holding difficult poses and collaborating creatively with artists. The show offers several of these works, with Valadon depicted as everything from laughing flirt to fatal siren. In some paintings she played all the roles, including adolescent boys. She is the rosy-cheeked girl in Renoir’s beloved Dance at Bougival (1883). Then followed her extraordinary transformation from model to artist. She had loved to draw since a child, and she observed the techniques of the artists, including Renoir, Degas, and Toulouse-Lautrec, whose studios she modeled in and who became her friends. However, a model at that time was a member of the demimonde, not far from being considered a prostitute. And, artistically, a female model was the “object” to the artist’s “subject,” and often, especially in nude poses, an offering to the “male gaze” characterized by sexual desire. An “object” in art was not expected to become its painter, and she was revolutionary in doing so. Valadon began with works on paper—she had no money to buy paint. Degas recognized her talent, bought her drawings, and taught her to make engravings, which she could sell, achieving some AQUARIUM financial security. At first, she Pirates are drew women in their daily back in Philatasks, groups of children, her delphia after illegitimate son Maurice. (At a 300 year aba time when bastardy was sosence. ...cially disabling, her friend the painter Miguel de Utrillo “recognized” Maurice, giving him continued on page 4
SPORTS
17-year-old Coco Gauff will join forces with 40-yearold Venus Williams... Page 8
CHINESE LADY
American history has many dark corners. Some of those corners have in recent years been... Page 2
York-Dauphin El station. Photo by Thom Nickels
POLITICS.....................................3 NOTES ON MUSIC..........................7 CRIME.......................................10 CLASSIFIEDS..............................11