Isabelle Collin Dufresne (6 September 1935 – 14 June 2014), known professionally as Ultra Violet, was a French-American artist, author, and both a colleague of

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

and one of his so-called Superstars. Earlier in her career, she worked for and studied with

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

artist

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

. Dufresne lived and worked in New York City, and also had a studio in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, France.

Early life

Isabelle Collin Dufresne was brought up in a strict religious upper-middle-class family, but she rebelled at an early age. She was instructed at a Catholic school, and then a reform school. In 1953, she received a BA in Art at ''Le Sacré Cœur'' in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, France. She soon left France to live with an older sister in New York City.

Salvador Dalí and New York City

In 1954, after a meeting with

, she became his "

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

", pupil, studio assistant, and lover in both

Port Lligat Portlligat is a small village located in a small bay on Cap de Creus peninsula, on the Costa Brava of the Mediterranean Sea, in the municipality of Cadaqués in the Alt Empordà comarca, in Catalonia, Spain. The island of Portlligat is locat ...

, Spain, and in New York City. Later, she would recall, "I realized that I was 'surreal', which I never knew until I met Dalí." In the 1960s, Dufresne began to follow the progressive American Pop Art scene including

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

, Robert Rauschenberg, and

James Rosenquist James Rosenquist (November 29, 1933 – March 31, 2017) was an American artist and one of the proponents of the pop art movement. Drawing from his background working in sign painting, Rosenquist's pieces often explored the role of advertising a ...

Warhol and "The Factory"

In 1963, Dalí introduced Dufresne to Andy Warhol, and soon she moved into the orbit of his unorthodox studio, "

The Factory The Factory was Andy Warhol's studio in New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famed for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities and Warhol's superstar ...

". In 1964 she selected the stage name "Ultra Violet" at Warhol's suggestion, because it was her preferred fashion — her hair color at the time was often violet or lilac. She became one of many " superstars" in Warhol's Factory, and played multiple roles in over a dozen films between 1965 and 1974. In 1967 Ultra Violet played a part (with, among others,

Taylor Mead Taylor Mead (December 31, 1924 – May 8, 2013) was an American writer, actor and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films filmed at Warhol's Factory, including ''Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of'' (1963) and ...

) in the surrealistic play '' Desire Caught by the Tail'' by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

when it was set for the first time in France at a festival in Saint-Tropez. She would eventually appear in more than 20 films, not counting numerous documentaries made at the Factory. At various points in her career she would meet numerous celebrities, including John Graham, John Chamberlain,

Edward Ruscha Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (, ''roo-SHAY''; born December 16, 1937) is an American artist associated with the pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography and film. He is also noted for creating severa ...

Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...

, Miloš Forman,

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; el, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotélis Onásis, ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), was a Greek-Argentinian shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and wa ...

, Maria Callas,

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to eac ...

, Marc Chagall,

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, and

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

. In later reminiscences, she would name Ruscha, Nureyev, and Forman among her past lovers. In 1969, she was "dethroned" as Warhol's primary muse by Viva, a more recent discovery. Although a full participant in activities at the Factory, she generally avoided the heavy drug usage prevalent at the time, saying that her body reacted badly to drugs. She had tried smoking as a rebellious teen, had gotten very sick as a result, and resolved to abstain from drug usage. She would later observe, "If I had lived like all those young people, I would be dead today". In the 1980s, she gradually drifted away from the Factory scene, taking a lower profile and working independently on her own art. In her autobiography, published the year after Warhol's unexpected demise in 1987, she chronicled the activities of many Warhol superstars, including several untimely deaths during and after the Factory years.

Later career

In 1988, Ultra Violet published her autobiography, ''Famous for 15 Minutes: My Years with Andy Warhol''. This autobiography was edited extensively and partially translated from French to English by her New York penthouse roommate Natalie Durkee. After a review of the book in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', it was published worldwide, eventually in 17 languages. After a book tour, she returned to France; in 1990 she opened a studio in

and wrote another book detailing her own ideas about art, ''L'Ultratique''. She lived and worked as an artist in New York City, and also maintained a studio in Nice for the rest of her life. In 2000, she was featured in ''Message to Andy Warhol'', a "concept art documentary" by Laurent Foissac. On 10 April 2005, she joined a panel discussion "Reminiscences of Dalí: A Conversation with Friends of the Artist" as part of a symposium "The Dalí Renaissance" for a major retrospective show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her conversation with another former Dalí protégée, French singer/actress

Amanda Lear Amanda Lear (; born 1939) is a French singer, songwriter, painter, television presenter, actress, and former model. She began her professional career as a fashion model in the mid-1960s, and went on to model for Paco Rabanne, Ossie Clark, and ...

, is recorded in the 236-page exhibition catalog, ''The Dalí Renaissance: New Perspectives on His Life and Art after 1940''. In 2006, she had a solo show at Stefan Stux Gallery in

Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River and West Street to the west, and Sixth Avenue to the east, with its northe ...

. In 2007 she gave a retrospective lecture at the New York Institute of Technology. In 2010, filmmaker David Gerson released ''Ultra Violet for Sixteen Minutes'', a short documentary showing her perspectives on fame, art, religion, and her current artistic practice. In 2011, she was featured in a brief article about the surviving former Warhol "Superstars". Regarding her famous past and her artwork today, she has said, "People always want to know about the past, but I'm much more interested in tomorrow". In 2011, she exhibited a series of artworks as her personal memorial of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, which were displayed in the exhibit ''Memorial IX XI'' at

Queensborough Community College Queensborough Community College (QCC) is a community college in Bayside, Queens, New York. One of seven community colleges within the City University of New York (CUNY) system, Queensborough enrolls more than 12,000 students and more than 7 ...

. In a 2012 interview, she said, "I'm a New Yorker, I'm an American, and I'm an artist. Because of those three things, I had to do something about 9/11, and the question was what to do, which is not simple." On 12 August 2014, independent record label Refinersfire released a posthumous limited edition 2-disc collection of original music and private conversations of Ultra Violet and Andy Warhol. The music was recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and features cover performances of "La vie en Rose", "Mojo Queen", and the original songs "Famous for Fifteen Minutes" and "Moon Rock". Ultra Violet also had recorded private telephone conversations between herself and Andy Warhol, which feature topics such as

police harassment The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...

, their films, the business of art, the

RFK assassination On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles. He was pronounced dead at 1:44 a.m. PDT the following day. Kennedy was a senator from New York and a candidate ...

, and

Valerie Solanas Valerie Jean Solanas (April 9, 1936 – April 25, 1988) was an American radical feminist known for the ''SCUM Manifesto'', which she self-published in 1967, and for her attempt to murder artist Andy Warhol in 1968. Solanas had a turbulent child ...

and her attempt on Warhol's life. She gave her last TV interview for the German documentary about

obsessive–compulsive disorder Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental and behavioral disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts and/or feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly to the extent where it induces distress or impairs general ...

(OCD), ''Wie ich lernte, die Zahlen zu lieben (How I Learned to Love the Numbers)'', by Oliver Sechting and Max Taubert. Her last exhibition in New York, ''Ultra Violet: The Studio Recreated'', closed three weeks before her death. It included paintings, sculptures, photographs, films, and

neon art Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode a ...

Personal life

In 1973, a

near-death experience A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death which researchers claim share similar characteristics. When positive, such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detac ...

and a bout with depression launched Ultra Violet on a spiritual quest, culminating in her

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

in 1981. For the rest of her life, she was a practicing member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

. In 1994, the ''

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...

'' magazine published a brief article describing a dream she had had on the night

died, in 1987. She did not even know that he was in the hospital at that time, and was shocked to hear a report on the radio the next morning. Dufresne died on 14 June 2014, in New York City at the age of 78, from cancer. She had never married. Dufresne was survived by two sisters. She is buried in

Saint-Égrève Saint-Égrève (; frp, Sant-Ègrèvo) is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. It is part of the Grenoble urban unit (agglomeration). Population Twin towns - sister cities Saint-Égrève is twinned with: * Karben, Ger ...

near

Books

* * *

Filmography

* ''Blackout'' (1994) .... Arlette * ''

An Unmarried Woman ''An Unmarried Woman'' is a 1978 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Mazursky and starring Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates and Michael Murphy. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Original ...

'' (1978) .... Lady MacBeth * ''Curse of the Headless Horseman'' (1974) .... Contessa Isabel du Fren * '' Bad Charleston Charlie'' (1973) * '' Savages'' (1972) .... Iliona, a Decadent * '' Believe in Me'' (1971) .... Emergency Room Patient * ''The Telephone Book'' (1971) .... Whip Woman * '' Simon, King of the Witches'' (1971) .... Sarah * '' Taking Off'' (1971) .... SPFC Member * ''Dinah East'' (1970) .... Daniela * ''Brand X'' (1970) .... Singer * ''

The Phynx ''The Phynx'' is a 1970 American comedy film directed by Lee H. Katzin about a rock and roll band named The Phynx and their mission in foreign affairs. The group is sent to Albania to locate celebrity hostages taken prisoner by Communists. This ...

'' (1970) .... Felice * ''Cleopatra'' (1970) * ''

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

'' (1970) .... Herself * ''

Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama film, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with notable smaller ...

'' (1969) .... The Party * ''The Secret Life of Hernando Cortez'' (1969) .... Daughter of Montezuma * '' **** (The 24 Hour Movie)'' (1967) * ''

I, a Man ''I, a Man'' is a 1967 American erotic drama film written, directed and filmed by Andy Warhol. It debuted at the Hudson Theatre in New York City on August 25, 1967. The film depicts the main character, played by Tom Baker, in a series of sexual en ...

'' (1967) * ''

The Life of Juanita Castro ''The Life of Juanita Castro'' is a 1965 American underground film directed by Andy Warhol, filmed in March 1965. Plot A playwright (Ronald Tavel) taunts a number of actresses into improvising a play on Fidel Castro and his family, at a time whe ...

'' (1965) * ''

Cinématon ''Cinématon'' is a 207-hour-long experimental film by French director Gérard Courant. It was the longest film ever released until 2011. Composed over 30 years from 1978 until 2009, it consists of a series of over 3,111 silent vignettes (c ...

'' #1084 (1988) by Gérard Courant ... Herself * ''Lire'' #27 (1988) by Gérard Courant ... Herself * ''Portrait de groupe'' #92 : ''Avec Ultra-Violet à Paris'' by Gérard Courant ... Herself * ''La Collection secrète de Salvador Dalí'' (1992) by Otto Kelmer ... Herself ''La Collection secrète de Salvador Dalí.''
on the Website of ''IMDb''. Retrieved 25 March 2018. * ''Message to Andy Warhol'' (2000) by Laurent Foissac ... Herself * ''Wie ich lernte, die Zahlen zu lieben'' (2014) by Oliver Sechting & Max Taubert ... Herself

References

External links

*
Warholstars, a comprehensive website about Andy WarholOfficial Site of Ultra Violet's IXXI project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dufresne, Isabelle Collin 1935 births People from La Tronche 2014 deaths American women artists American film actresses Latter Day Saints from New York (state) Artists from New York City Converts to Mormonism from Roman Catholicism French Latter Day Saints French women writers French emigrants to the United States Deaths from cancer in New York (state) People associated with The Factory Muses