Jeanne Forain (1865-1954) - Portrait Of A Little Girl, 1900

Jeanne Forain (1865-1954)
Portrait of a Girl, 1900
Pastel on canvas
77 x 65 cm in its original Degas frame
Signed and dated "Jeanne Forain, May 14, 1900" lower right

Jeanne Bosc married in 1891 the painter Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931), one of the most famous caricaturists of the Belle Époque.
She is the eldest of four children. Her father was a professor of French-Latin-Greek at the Jesuit Rollin College in Paris, and her mother was a voluntary midwife. Camille Pissarro was the first to notice Jeanne's talent when the Bosc family settled in Auvers-sur-Oise and encouraged the young girl to embark on the path of painting. Back in Paris, his parents allowed him to work at the Louvre museum and in various workshops.
Jeanne Forain's artistic career began in 1889, when she was admitted to the Salon des artistes français. She then exhibited at that of the National Society of Fine Arts in 1890 and 1925. She exhibited at the Society of French humorists after the First World War and at the Independent National Salon in 1938. She occasionally sold her works to Jean-Louis Forain's dealers such as the Bernheim brothers or Mrs. Allard .
The Forain couple is very close, among others, with Robert de Montesquiou, Edgar Degas, Henriet Marie de Régnier, Anna de Noailles, etc. The members of his family, his friends, relations, as well as literary and social Paris serve as models for his portraits which are part of a post-impressionist vein. It is in the representations of children that Jeanne Forain particularly stands out. She also sculpted puppets for the Théâtre des Nabots, which she founded in 1904. Her relatives supported her in this artistic project: Jean-Louis Forain drew for the cover of the booklet, Caran d'Ache created the sets and Charles-Marie Widorest for the work as far as musical composition is concerned. The performances, where the Tout-Parisse presses, are for the benefit of underprivileged children.
Jeanne Forain is buried in the Chesnay cemetery alongside her husband.
A monographic exhibition is dedicated to him at the Alfred-Cane Museum at Pont-Audemer as part of the Normandy Impressionist Festival 2016.
His works are present in several French public collections: in Paris at the Petit Palais, at the National Center for Plastic Arts, at the Carnavalet Museum, and at Pont-Audemer at the Alfred-Canel Museum.

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