Gabrièle Buffet-Picabia | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Gabrièle Buffet 21 November 1881 Fontainebleau, France |
| Died | 7 December 1985(1985-12-07) (aged 104) Paris, France |
| Occupations | Essayist Art critic French Resistance member |
| Spouse | Francis Picabia |
Gabrièle Buffet-Picabia (often spelledGabrielle Buffet-Picabia;néeBuffet; 21 November 1881 – 7 December 1985)[1] was a French art critic and writer affiliated withDadaism. She was an organiser of theFrench Resistance and the first wife of artistFrancis Picabia.
Gabrielle Buffet was the daughter of Alphée Buffet and his wife, Laure (née Hugueteau de Chaillé). She studied music at theSchola Cantorum in Paris withVincent d'Indy, later in Berlin withFerruccio Busoni. She grew up with a brother artist who painted in the classical manner (See:classicism), far removed from the visionary works of her future husband,[2] the painterFrancis Picabia, whom she married in January 1909. Her influence inspired Picabia to compose his paintings as musical pieces.
In Zurich, Gabrielle and Francis metHans Arp andTristan Tzara. In October 1912, while she was with her mother in the family home ofÉtival,Picabia rejoined her along withGuillaume Apollinaire andMarcel Duchamp.[3] Apollinaire there completed his poemZone, which begins the cycle entitledAlcools.
This journey served as an inspiration to Duchamp who wrote fournotes marginales, " Route Jura-Paris " fromLa Boîte de 1914.[4] Duchamp created a prelude to his workLa Mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même. On the basis of the meeting, a book was published with essays onCubism,Les peintres cubistes, by Apollinaire, financed by Picabia.[5] In the magazineView, Charles Henry Ford describes her as one of the first to write a serious account of 'Duchamphenomena'.[6]
The marriage with Francis Picabia, which produced four children, Laure, Pancho, Jeanine and Vincente, ended in divorce in 1930.
From 1941, during the Second World War, she was a member of theFrench Resistance in Paris, alongsideSamuel Beckett,Mary Reynolds,Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, and others.[7] She was second in command in her region and her studio was a safe house for soldiers escaping via the Belgian-French line.[8] Her daughter Jeanine was also in the Resistance and the two of them avoided arrest. Others were arrested as their organisation was infiltrated and the Gestapo arrested another daughter, Marie, who was not a member of the Resistance. Marie's husband was away and her children were without their mother so Gabrielle spent time with them in Lyon whilst still working for the Resistance.[9]
Later, she was involved with Maurice Montet as he organised another line in the "south zone". Her significant contribution was later belittled possibly because others could not believe that a middle aged woman had been so involved.[8] In fact, after Montet was arrested as a result of the double agentJacques Desoubrie she left her place inDieulefit and went further south climbing over the Pyrennes and travelling to Barcelona and Madrid. She went as far as Gibraltar where she was given a place to stay. She consulted withDonald Darling,[8] a British diplomat andMI9 member known as "Sunday". He had a flat inMain Street, Gibraltar[10] and he organised for her to be evacuated by air to Britain.[8]
In 1967Marcel Janco andGreta Deses made a film titled "Dada" which included interviews withMarcel Duchamp,Max Ernst,Man Ray,Hans Richter and Gabrièle Buffet-Picabia.[11] The film competed in the 2001Cannes Film Festival.[12]
In 1968 theHanover Gallery in London had an exhibition of her and her husband's work.[13]
She died in 1985 at the age of 104.
In August 2017,Gabriële, written byAnne andClaire Berest, was published byStock.[2] The authors are great-granddaughters of Buffet-Picabia, and their biography underscores Buffet-Picabia's decisive influence within avant-garde circles. According to an interview with the Berests (Bibliothèque Médicis, 2017), a second volume of Buffet-Picabia's life may follow.
(1967 documentary byMarcel Janco and Greta Deses)| International | |
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