émilie Charmy (1878-1974) Afa Corse Fauvisme - Charles Camoin

In 1898, Émilie Charmy left Saint-Étienne and moved to Lyon with her brother Jean, where she trained with painter Jacques Martin (1844-1919). She exhibited for the first time in Paris at the Indépendants in 1903, and moved with her brother to Saint-Cloud in 1904. She worked in the still-life genre, exhibiting regularly at the Indépendants from 1903 to 1914 (except in 1910) and at the Salon d'Automne from 1905 to 1912. Charmy took part in several group shows at Berthe Weill's gallery. It was at these shows, which brought together Matisse and Girieud, that she met her future companion Charles Camoin in 1906. She traveled to the Mediterranean with him during the summer of 1906. From 1904 to 1912, Charmy painted still lifes, landscapes and structured figures. In spring-summer 1909, she stayed in Lyon, Toulon and Porquerolles with him, and the following year, in January-February, they traveled to Corsica, around Ajaccio, then to Cassis. Their works, dated between 1906 and 1910, feature dense, rapidly applied paint. Probably by 1910, they were working mainly around Ajaccio, sometimes from the same vantage point, as in Rochers au bord de mer (Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts). Piana, Corse expresses a tension between areas of solid color and black outlines. In 1911, Galerie Druet devoted an exhibition to him, featuring several views of Ajaccio.

In 1912, as her relationship with Camoin deteriorated, she met Georges Bouche (1874-1941), whom she joined in Auvergne during the summer. Charmy adopted flat tones of green and lively brushstrokes for the trees, favoring shallow depth in her landscapes. Despite her poor critical fortunes, Louis Vauxcelles described her as "one of the most remarkable women artists of our time". Her 1923 self-portrait shows a rapidity of touch, as in Nu allongé sur un coude, which deploys the sensual curve of the body. Emilie Charmy was a contemporary of Jacqueline Marval (1866-1932) and Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938). In 2002, her works were featured in the exhibition Elles de Montparnasse at the Musée du Montparnasse in Paris, which dealt with the emancipation of women artists between the wars.