Francoise Gillot Homage

 

 Francois Gillot died this week at 101. I wanted to remember her with this Parisbreakfast repost from 2012

What a tremendous woman and artist.

I visited the exhibit Picasso and Francoise Gilot:Paris - Vallauris, 1943-1953 at Gagosian Gallery 980 Madison Avenue

 A big collection of gorgeous old photos, paintings, drawings, prints by both Picasso and Gilot.

 Gilot was 22 at the time she met Picasso (he was 62) in1943 and left him 10 years later. The only woman to walk away. 

“You imagine people will be interested in you?” Ms. Gilot quoted a surprised Picasso saying after she told him that she was leaving him. “They won’t ever, really, just for yourself. Even if you think people like you, it will only be a kind of curiosity they will have about a person whose life touched mine so intimately.”

The full story is in the NYTimes if you have access.

She was painting well before she met Picasso. Gilot’s mother was a gifted watercolorist & ceramicist, with a fantastic knowledge of art history. 

“A typical artist’s mother” in that she encouraged her daughter to have the career she had herself been denied (from The Guardian)

Francoise started painting at age 5 and was already visiting the Louvre with her teacher.

 A beauty as well as an accomplished, brilliant woman. 

Gilot interviewed on Charlie Rose in her studio in 1998

 It's easy to see how she captivated Picasso.

 With her brilliant mind and balanced, classical features

 Perfect to distort as well.

 Multiple portraits of Francoise Gilot in the show by Picasso.

 Two floors of artwork.

 Photos of Gilot by Edwin Quinn are arresting. Quinn lived & worked from the 50s on the Côte d'Azur.

In Antibes at chateau Grimaldi on La Côte d’Azur (on Arte).

Everyone knows this iconic photo by Magnum photographer, Robert Capa. Gilot was not subservient to Picasso - more of a goddess leading the way.

Have you read her memoire 📕, Gillot's Life with Picasso 

It’s a riveting read of a strong, independent woman, well worth another read.

Portrait of Gilot by Picasso. These silhouettes - positive/negative beautiful shapes.

 Many of her paintings/drawings are of her children. My obsession too probably thanks to Bringing Up Bebe,

I loved this contorted, linear drawing Francoise Gilot's made of her son, Claude, sleeping curled up on a table, squashed into the frame

Watch this terrific interview with Gilot at 99 in 2021.

A worthy woman we don’t want to forget, especially these days.

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“ Art doesn’t come from what is around you, but from what is inside of you,” says Françoise Gilot. Jody Rogac for The New York Times

                  What did Francoise Gilot mean to you?

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