Anna Garcin-Mayade (17 January 1897 – 3 May 1981) was a French painter and a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Early life

She was born at

Pontgibaud Pontgibaud () is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. It is located in the Massif Central region of France on the banks of the river Sioule. The area around the town was historically known for silver and lea ...

, the daughter of Elie Mayade, a blacksmith, and his wife Félicie, a dressmaker. She studied art in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, staying with an aunt who kept a gallery in Montmartre; there she became associated with

Maurice Utrillo Maurice Utrillo (; born Maurice Valadon; 26 December 1883 – 5 November 1955) was a French painter of the School of Paris who specialized in cityscapes. From the Montmartre quarter of Paris, France, Utrillo is one of the few famous painters of ...

and

Suzanne Valadon Suzanne Valadon (; 23 September 1865 – 7 April 1938) was a French painter who was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the . She was also the ...

. At the age of seventeen, she became a pupil of

Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

. She joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

. At the outbreak of the Second World War, she was teaching at a

girls' school Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, same-sex education, same-gender education, and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in se ...

; she soon joined the Resistance and did not hide her political beliefs.

Wartime activities

On 30 October 1941,

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

, leader of the

Free French Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...

, broadcast on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

from London, encouraging a national "Stand to Attention", in which French people would observe a five-minute silence in memory of those killed by the Germans, as a protest against the occupation of France. In 1943, when Garcin-Mayade encouraged her pupils to participate in another such exercise, two of them reported her to the authorities, and she was arrested and sentenced to five years' hard labour. On 10 May 1944, she was deported to

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a Nazi concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 1 ...

. While at Ravensbrück she was accused of

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

and was transferred to a punishment camp at

Rechlin Rechlin is a municipality in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, around 100 km (60 mi) northwest of Berlin. The town's airport has a long history and was the Luftwaffe's main testing ground for new aircraft designs in Nazi Germany. ...

. There she was encouraged by another Resistance member, Paulette Pradel, to begin drawing again. She produced many works illustrating the prisoners and the terrible conditions at the camp. The camp was liberated by the Swedish Red Cross in 1945, but her art works were burned for fear of

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

contamination. She later recreated many of them from memory, in oils and other media.

Legacy

On the 70th anniversary of the

Liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

, an exhibition of Garcin-Mayade's work was held in her home town of Pontgibaud. Many of her works are on permanent display at the Musée Michelet in

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

. In her birthplace of Pontgibaud, the Collège Anna Garcin-Mayade was renamed in her honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcin-Mayade, Anna 1897 births 1981 deaths 20th-century French women artists French Resistance members Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors 20th-century French painters