Suzanne Valadon - Redefining Sexy

Suzanne Valadon

"She was conceived and delivered in disgrace"(www.suzannevaladon.com). For this post, I decided to focus on a painter that in my opinion, made a true effort to challenge what was considered normal in fine art. Suzanne Valadon was born the illegitimate daughter of a laundress in France. Society dictates at the time that being a single mother with a child is not a good thing, specifically in Europe. But, that can be said anywhere. Suzanne had no choice but to earn her keep at a very young age. At the age of nine she started training to become a trapeze artist. However, an accident stopped that pursuit. She later became an artists' model. She posed for such acclaimed artists as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri de Toulose-Latrec (www.nmwa.org). It is here that she learned some techniques as a muse for the important artist of her time. Also, her unique experience as a model initially gave her a perspective that no male artist could ever have. She could not only paint from the point of view of the eventual male viewer, but also from the intricate angles that only an artist model can know. Chadwick states, "Valadon's female nudes fuse of the female body based on he experience as a model" (Chadwick 285).

Grandmother and Young Girl Stepping
into the Bath (c.1908)

"Valadon became an artist's model...she was part of the sexually free Bohemian life of early twentieth-century Paris"(Chadwick 283). This was beneficial to her as an artist in terms of education and in some ways notoriety. At the time, as with every other major or minor art movement, the concept of a woman calling herself an artist by profession was nowhere near accepted in society, especially in Europe.But, the region Valadon was in gave her the chance to paint what she wanted. She was most known for depictions of the female nude. She painted them extensively due to her interest in sexuality. She broke the mold by painting females that were intended to be sexy. This was not the norm among the few women painters during this time. So, we learn early that breaking new ground is something of a hobby to her. What she did differently from her male and female predecessor was make make the settings of her pieces more believable and more domestic. As Chadwick states, "Valadon often placed her figures in specific domestic settings, surrounding them with images of domesticity and community as in Grandmother and Young Girl Stepping into the Bath (c. 1908)" (Chadwick 285-286). This can be seen in the previous piece mentioned along with one of her more well know pieces, The Blue Room (1923).

The Blue Room (1923)

"Rejecting the static and timeless presentation of the monumental nude that dominates Western art, she emphasizes context, specific moment, and physical action. Instead of presenting the female body as a lush surface isolated and controlled by the male gaze, she emphasized the awkward gestures of figures apparently in control of their own movements" (Chadwick 285). When put in comparison to Tintoretto's Susanna and the Elders, the different interpretations on female sexuality is pretty obvious. The colors are more vibrant and gripping in Valadon's piece, making it a little more difficult to realize the focal point of the piece. Also, in more obvious findings, she's clothed. When looking at Tintoretto's piece, the female is brightly lit and nude. She is depicted in a way, along with the secondary and tertiary components, to be the object of sexual desire and completely accepts it. Valadon does the same, but the way she is drawn does not scream out sex. It actually questions the conventions of what sexy is supposed to be. It forces the male viewer to either redefine sexy, or reject all sexual desires altogether. That's genius! In a time where the female figure is only seen as an object, to almost completely reject the tried and true practices and customs of the "great" artists that came before her is paramount. 

Susanna and the Elders (1555)

Judy Chicago's: The Dinner Party
(1974-1979)

Valadon had a lasting impression on the art world in more ways than just attempting to redefine what sexy is. The subject matter that she worked primarily in was a first among almost all female artists. "Valadon and Modersohn-Becker were two of the first women artists to work extensively with the nude female form. Their paintings collude with, and challenge, narratives that construct female identity, through connections to nature, and that view of women as controlled by emotions, sexual instincts, and biology" (Chadwick 282). The most amazing thing is that these innovations came from the hands of female. What? To be honest, with the way art history has been recorded and credited up to this point, I thought that a male artist would be given full responsibility for such innovations. This in a way inspired some artists of today to sort of shake things up. Groups like the Guerrilla Girls and other innovative female artists like Judy Chicago could have been influenced by the actions of Valadon. Maybe not in style, but in action. Valadon could have been one of the artists that gave others the courage to more females to challenge the norm. Thus creating innovative art that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but issue based.

Suzanne Valadon did more for the women in the art world than she gets credit for. From an upbringing that was frowned upon by everyone, to critically acclaimed, definition defining artist. Suzanne Valadon quite literally came from the bottom to the top. Well, at least for a woman at the time. She got people to notice that she is more than just a pretty face. 

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.

"National Museum of Women in the Arts." Suzanne Valadon. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/suzanne-valadon>.

"Satie and Suzanne (whole Movie)." YouTube. YouTube, 01 Sept. 2012. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBCk1RkAYaU>.