Lydia Radda

Aquarium, circa 1935, oil on panel

circa 1935

Joséphine Beaudouin (1909-2005) Poetry of the Bird, surrealist painting, 1948 Oil on canvas Signed "Joséphine Beaudouin" and dated "1948" lower left 13,7 x 10,6 inch Born in Albi in 1909, Josephine Beaudouin (née Cals) showed an early interest in drawing. At the age of twelve, she moved to Paris where her mother, Jeanne Ramel-Cals, ran a literary salon that was frequented by art world figures such as Ambroise Vollard. In 1925, while her first drawings appeared in the magazine Crapouillot, the young artist entered the School of Decorative Arts where she studied fresco painting. She married the architect Eugène Beaudouin in 1928, with whom she traveled throughout Europe. Beaudouin, a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, designed a series of buildings that were precursors of modern architecture in France (Clichy, Maison du Peuple; Antony, Résidence universitaire Jean Zay). Josephine Beaudouin exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon des Tuileries, the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs. The work of the one that Jean Cocteau described as "bewitching" is full of mystery. Her work bears the stamp of an extraordinary personality. Indeed, Josephine Beaudouin developed a penchant for dreams at a very early age and took refuge in the works illustrated by Gustave Doré. Her technical virtuosity and overflowing imagination were praised by the critics of her time who unanimously greeted her Marmorées (ill.1). Named by René Barotte, these are paintings made on marble slabs from 1955. The artist exploits the infinite resources of the veins of this support which inspires him poetic compositions with unusual subjects. Marked by surrealism, she returns to the fantastic by delivering a prodigious creation of the mind made of dreamed cities and trompe-l'oeil. The 1948 painting that we propose probably represents a red-billed chough. The bird is a recurring theme in the work of Josephine Beaudouin, as in her life. An avid ornithologist, she kept an aviary in her Parisian home where many island birds were kept. She also built up a collection of stuffed birds. Still on this theme, the writer Claude Aveline (1901-1992), author of the poem L'Oiseau-Qui-N'Existe-Pas, invited several visual artists to freely interpret what this bird could be. The first series of works was produced between 1956 and 1963. In 1957, Joséphine Beaudouin delivered a work with a pen of great finesse, now preserved at the Centre Pompidou (ill.2). Several renowned artists also responded to the invitation of the poet such as Jean Cocteau and Ossip Zadkine. The precision of the graphics of our painting testifies to an attentive observation of the anatomy of the birds. The artist paints with great delicacy: the technique is impeccable, the drawing is careful, the material is smooth, the details are represented with great finesse and mastery. Bibliography : Fernand Pouillon...

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