French was a
magical realist painter, and also produced etchings, although her best known works were made as part of a collective, personal and professional, with Jared French and Paul Cadmus. In 1937 she married Jared French, who had a sexual relationship with Paul Cadmus. Despite the marriage, Jared continued his relationship with Cadmus. Together the trio formed the photo collective PaJaMa, (Paul Jared Margaret). Some of the people photographed were photographer
George Platt Lynes,
Christopher Isherwood,
George Tooker, Cadmus' sister and artist Fidelma, artist
Bernard Perlin and
Monroe Wheeler, then director of the exhibitions at the
Museum of Modern Art. but her paintings show clear influences from French and Cadmus, especially the time-consuming paintings in
egg tempera, which were a technique that Cadmus and Jared French also used. When Cadmus began a relationship with the young artist
George Tooker in 1944, the trio became a quartet, and Tooker is featured in many of PaJaMa's photographs, such as
Margaret French, George Tooker and Jared French, Nantucket, and
George Tooker at 5 St. Luke’s Place with Paul Cadmus and Jared French in Mirror. Margaret French died 1998 in New York, at the age of 92. ==Collections==