Madeleine Lemaire 1845-1928 - Still Life Painting Bouquet Flowers Watercolor Signed And Framed

Original watercolor on paper, 25 cm x 36 cm, preserved under glass and sold with its gilded wooden frame 46.5 cm x 57 cm, signed lower right Madelaine Lemaire, probably dating from the end of the 19th century, and representing a bouquet of flowers in a small basket.
Magnificent painting in very good condition.
Sold with a certificate invoice.
Madeleine Lemaire 1845-1928
French painter, pastel artist and illustrator. Recognized for her natural authority, her energy and her modesty, Madeleine Lemaire has come down to us as the socialite Madame de Villeparisis and the tyrannical Verdurin in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time. A few photographic portraits represent her in her studio, this winter garden on the Monceau plain where she entertains without comparison. Writers, musicians, actors and actresses from the Comédie-Française and politicians flock together on Tuesday afternoons to have fun in this highly renowned musical and literary salon. The dandy Robert de Montesquiou is a faithful. The tenor Reynaldo Hahn conquers a first audience there. Mr. Proust was initiated into the demon of worldliness there in 1891. In the summer season, this beautiful society benefited from the benevolent hospitality of their friend at the Château de Réveillon, in the Marne, where Mr. Proust wrote Les Plaisirs et les Jours , supplemented by four pieces for piano by R. Hahn and by wild flowers in watercolor by M. Lemaire. Coming from the upper middle class, granddaughter of General Baron Pierre Joseph Habert, niece of the famous miniaturist Mathilde Herbelin (1820-1904), who also held a salon, Mr. Lemaire displays a good interpersonal skills that benefits the practice of his art. However, she does not allow herself to be imprisoned in confined living rooms. Villeparisis and Verdurin only momentarily eclipse an independent artist. The designer employs her determination to assert herself within a very masculine areopagus. From his childhood, Mr. Lemaire rubbed shoulders with artists. His aunt was his first teacher, then Charles Chaplin (1825-1891). The portraits she exhibited at the Salon from the age of nineteen show the influence of 18th century art. Married in 1870 to the town hall employee Camille Lemaire, then a mother, she did not, however, give up her art and worked tirelessly to perfect her young talent. His meeting with Alexandre Dumas son confirms his belonging to high artistic society and marks his emancipation towards a more personal production. Illustrator, watercolourist and pastellist, the painter is also a designer. Founding member of the Society of French Watercolourists in 1879 and of the Society of French Pastelists in 1885, she pursued her ambition alongside men, as equals. Open to women, the career of pastel artist is a field that is not granted to them, unlike watercolors or miniatures. Competition was fierce: only M. Lemaire and Marie Cazin (1844-1924) were admitted to the Society. In 1893, she was with Louise Abbéma (1853-1927) the first female member of the Salon jury. Mr. Lemaire also participates in international exhibitions. In 1893, she was part of the French delegation to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. She designed the official poster and wrote the catalog for the exhibition of works by women at the Woman's Building. In 1898, she exhibited at the Venice Biennale. She finally teaches, and is appointed "professor of drawing" at the National Museum of Natural History in 1899. Mr. Lemaire obtains the honorable mention at the Salon of 1877 and a silver medal for all of his work is awarded to him in the Universal Exhibition of 1900. In 1906, she was elected vice-president of the Prix Femina by the readers of the eponymous magazine. She was decorated with the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1908. The ultimate recognition that the acquisition by the State of one of her works would have constituted did not occur. On the other hand, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Troyes has had a portrait of a woman in red chalk since 1918 thanks to the Millard bequest. The salonnière is nicknamed the patroness, the painter is described as empress (of roses) by R. de Montesquiou: Mr. Lemaire accomplishes himself as a determined woman and does not compromise. It is referenced in the main quotation books such as Bénézit and on www.artprice.com/ with very good sales.