Overview When women were shunned from the French
art world, and most women regarded painting as a hobby, Charmy primarily painted women in domestic or bourgeois settings, as well as pictures of flowers and
still-life. Her flower paintings and still-life paintings were very marketable because they were considered decorative, and were sought after by the middle class. In regards to Charmy's nude paintings, Gill Perry proposes that Charmy is intentionally trying to restrict the viewer from the intimate scenes that she depicts. The most famous quote came from
Roland Dorgelès: It is Charmy's resistance to traditional
gender roles that makes her unusual for her time. For her career and depiction of nude women in a period in which that was unusual for women, she epitomized the
New Woman of the 19th century and early 20th century. In terms of the business side of her career, Charmy refused to sign contracts with
art dealers and
gallery owners, save for one unsuccessful contract with the dealer Pétridès in the early 1930s.
Early career In the 1890s, Charmy began making
Impressionist and
Post-Impressionist paintings of subjects that ranged from prostitutes and brothels to scenes of middle-class family life. Which were seen and appreciated by
Berthe Weill, who from then on promoted her work In 1906, she showed 5 flower paintings and one
still life titled
Prunes, also at the
Salon d'Automne. Their compositions feature the perfect and conventional image of femininity, with all of its decorative, and oriental/
primitive references. Charmy's depiction is a significant contrast, as her subject "despite her oriental dressing gown, is represented as the modern woman without the ornamental or coiffured hair. She assumes an almost hieratic standing pose, in the center of the canvas, and stares out somewhat disconcertingly, directly at the viewer. She seems to stand out rigidly against her domestic interior, a rigidity which is emphasized by the use of bright colors outlined in dark brushwork." Charmy established a studio in Paris at 54 Rue de Bourgogne in 1908. Paintings that she made of Corsica and the French Mediterranean were exhibited at Eugène Druet's gallery in 1911 in Paris. Charmy is remembered in the United States as being one of the artists who exhibited at the 1913
Armory Show, where she exhibited four works,
Roses,
Paysage,
Soir, and
Ajaccio. This exhibition is also where
Arthur Jerome Eddy purchased ''L'Estaque
, and he "praised the picture or its arbitrary, abstract colors and bold, decorative composition in his 1914 Cubists and Post Impressionism''."
School of Paris In the 1910s Bertha Weill began exhibiting her work. Her style evolved again during that decade, this time to that of the
School of Paris. Her work became increasingly respected by art critics, such as Louis Vauxcelle who in 1921 described her as "one of the most remarkable woman [artists] of our time". Recognizing the difference between Charmy's work and that of the stereotypically refined feminine artist, writer
Roland Dorgelès said the same year that she "sees like a woman and paints like a man". An exhibition of Charmy's work was held at the Galerie Œuvres d’Art in 1921. Yet, Charmy's work exhibits an interest in painting female models and prostitutes, including expression of women's sexuality. Such images of women are common among male artists such as
Degas, but were rare among women artists. Most women artists were interested in painting an idyllic view of women and their children. Despite Charmy's interest in using female models as subjects for her paintings, she avoided the mother-and-child theme that was becoming increasingly popular, especially with contemporary artists like
Mary Cassatt. There have been many speculations as to why Charmy chose such a controversial subject matter. One interpretation, is that "in adopting a contradictory viewing position (i.e. that of a woman viewing the female sexuality) and a modern technique, she has produced an ambiguous version of a popular contemporary theme... Charmy has appropriated and reworked a 'male gaze' removing some of the erotic pleasure involved in the part of the viewing subject." In 1921, Charmy had a
solo exhibition at the Galerie d'Oeuvres d'Art, and showed paintings of flowers, women, and female nudes. The show caused quite a stir in the Parisian art scene, and sparked a number of critical issues concerning "feminine" art. The show was organized by Count de Jouvencel, who had discovered her at
Berthe Weill's gallery in 1919. Around 1922, Charmy met Colette, whom she befriended. Colette, at that time at the height of her popularity, wrote the introductory text for the catalog of a major exhibition of twenty pictures by Charmy, held in 1922. The same year, Charmy participated in another major exhibition at the Styles Gallery, on the theme of the "Female Nude", which included paintings by
Ingres,
Delacroix,
Corot,
Manet,
Renoir,
Rouault and Matisse, and a catalog prefaced by Louis Vauxcelles. In the 1930s, Charmy was a member and exhibited her works at
Femmes Artistes Modernes. After the war, Charmy exhibited less often than she had at the height of her career, but she continued to paint into her 90s. == Awards ==