GEORGES ROUAULT (1871–1958)

The artist’s family, France 

Bernard Dorival [text by] and Isabelle Rouault [catalogue compiled by], Rouault, L’œuvre peint, Volume II, Monaco: André Sauret, 1988, described and reproduced under reference 2555, p. 297

Born in the United States in 1894, Thérèse Bonney moved to Paris in 1919, where she became a prominent figure in the intellectual and artistic circles of the interwar period. A photographer, journalist and press correspondent, she moved in the capital’s cosmopolitan circles and developed a career closely linked to the worlds of the arts, theatre and fashion. Close to many cultural figures, she produced portraits of artists, writers and musicians, whilst documenting Parisian life with a modern and sensitive eye. Her studio became a meeting place for leading figures of the international avant-garde, contributing to the artistic influence of Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. Although Thérèse Bonney is today mainly recognised for her photographic reportages during the Second World War, her career remains deeply rooted in the cultural effervescence of modern Paris, of which she was at once a witness, a participant and a muse. Around 1933, Georges Rouault produced a series of portraits of her.

Georges Rouault (1871–1958), Miss Marie-Thérèse Bonney, oil, ink and gouache on paper, unsigned, 56.3 × 35.1 cm, Paris, Musée national d'art moderne, AM 4231 P (500 V)