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Alice Ernestine Prin (2 October 1901 – 29 April 1953), nicknamed the Queen of Montparnasse and often known as Kiki de Montparnasse, was a French model, chanteuse, memoirist and painter during the
Jazz Age The Jazz Age was a period from 1920 to the early 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles gained worldwide popularity. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. Originating in New O ...
. She flourished in, and helped define, the liberated culture of Paris in the so-called
Années folles The ''Années folles'' (, "crazy years" in French) was the decade of the 1920s in France. It was coined to describe the social, artistic, and cultural collaborations of the period. The same period is also referred to as the Roaring Twenties ...
("crazy years" in French). She became one of the most famous models of the 20th century and in the history of
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
art.


Early life

Born as an illegitimate child in Châtillon-sur-Seine, Côte d'Or, Alice Prin had "a wretched childhood that could only lead to laughter or despair". She was raised in abject poverty by her grandmother. At age twelve, she was sent by train to live with her mother, a linotypist, in Paris in order to help earn an income for her family. Harsh, degrading jobs followed, and she worked in printing shops, shoe factories and bakeries. During this time, she began her lifelong joy of decorating herself. She "would crumble a petal from her mother's fake geraniums to give color to her cheeks and was fired from a nasty job at a bakery because she darkened her eyebrows with burnt matchsticks". By the age of fourteen, Prin's "large and splendid body" had garnered the artistic and sexual attention of various Parisian denizens, and she began surreptitiously posing nude for sculptors. "It bothered me a little to take off my clothes," Prin wrote her in her memoirs, but "it was the custom". Her decision to become a nude model created discord with her mother. One day, her mother unexpectedly intruded into an artist's studio in a rage, denounced Prin as a shameless prostitute, and disowned her forever. Now without money or a roof over her head, the teenage Kiki determined to make her living exclusively by posing for artists. As a beautiful dark-haired girl, she soon found herself in popular demand. At the time, she had scant pubic hair, and when posing, she occasionally drew fake hair with a piece of charcoal. As her fame grew, she became a local celebrity who symbolized the
Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...
quarter's nonconformity and its rejection of the social norms of the .


Modeling career

Adopting a single name, "Kiki", Prin became a fixture of the Montparnasse social scene and a popular model, posing for dozens of artists, including Sanyu, Chaïm Soutine, Julien Mandel,
Tsuguharu Foujita was a Japanese–French painter. After having studied Western-style painting in Japan, Foujita traveled to Paris, where he encountered the international modern art scene of the Montparnasse neighborhood and developed an eclectic style that borrow ...
, Constant Detré,
Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, writer, filmmaker, magazine publisher, poet, and typography, typographist closely associated with Dada. When consid ...
,
Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
,
Arno Breker Arno Breker (19 July 1900 – 13 February 1991) was a German sculptor who is best known for his public works in Nazi Germany, where he was endorsed by the authorities as the antithesis of degenerate art. He was made official state sculptor, ...
,
Alexander Calder Alexander "Sandy" Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobile (sculpture), mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, hi ...
, Per Krohg,
Hermine David Hermine Lionette Cartan David (19 April 1886 in Paris – 1 December 1970 in Bry-sur-Marne) was a French painter. Early life and education Hermine David was born in Paris in 1886. She was born out of wedlock; her mother insisted that her b ...
, Pablo Gargallo and Tono Salazar. Moïse Kisling painted a portrait of Kiki titled ''Nu assis'', one of his best known. In his 1976 book ''Memoirs of Montparnasse'', Canadian poet John Glassco recalled that: In Autumn 1921, Prin met the American visual artist
Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...
, and the two soon entered into a stormy eight-year relationship. She lived with Man Ray in his studio on rue Campagne-Première until 1929 during which time he made hundreds of portraits of her. She became his muse at the time and the subject of some of his best-known images, including the
surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
image ''
Le Violon d'Ingres ''Le Violon d'Ingres'' (French for ''Ingres's Violin'') is a black-and-white photograph created by American visual artist Man Ray in 1924. It is one of his best-known photographs and of surrealism, surrealist photography. The picture was first pub ...
'' (Ingres' Violin) and '' Noire et blanche'' (Black and White). During their turbulent relationship, Man Ray labored obsessively on Prin's makeup and visual image. He "took her many steps beyond the primitive charcoal eyebrow-pencil she used for makeup as a teenager." Every night before going out together, he "meticulously applied her cosmetics and assisted in the choice of her clothes, creating a visual style that is as much a part of his ''oeuvre'' as any of his signed paintings". Her makeup often varied in "the color, thickness, and angle according to his mood. Her heavy eyelids, next, might be done in copper one day and royal blue another, or else in silver and jade." By 1929, Prin had reached the zenith of her fame. She had appeared in nine short and frequently experimental films, including
Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
's 1923
Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...
ist work '' Ballet mécanique'' without any credit. A symbol of
bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...
and creative Paris and of the possibility of being a woman and finding an artistic place, she was elected the ''Queen of
Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...
'' at age 28. Despite her local fame, she continued to live a hand-to-mouth existence. Even during difficult times, she maintained her positive attitude, saying "all I need is an onion, a bit of bread, and a bottle of red ine and I will always find somebody to offer me that."


Artwork and autobiography

A painter in her own right, Prin had a sold-out exhibition of her paintings in 1927 at the Galerie au Sacre du Printemps in Paris. Signing her work with her chosen single name, ''Kiki'', her drawings and paintings comprise portraits, self-portraits, social activities, fanciful animals and dreamy landscapes composed in a light, slightly uneven, expressionist style that is a reflection of her carefree manner and boundless optimism. In 1929, she published an autobiography titled '' Kiki's Memoirs'', with
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
and
Tsuguharu Foujita was a Japanese–French painter. After having studied Western-style painting in Japan, Foujita traveled to Paris, where he encountered the international modern art scene of the Montparnasse neighborhood and developed an eclectic style that borrow ...
providing introductions. In 1930, the book was translated by Samuel Putnam and published in Manhattan by Black Manikin Press, but it was immediately banned by the United States government. A copy of the first US edition was held in the section for banned books in the New York Public Library through the 1970s. However, the book had been reprinted under the title ''The Education of a Young Model'' throughout the 1950s and 1960s (e.g., a 1954 edition by Bridgehead has the Hemingway Introduction and photos and illustrations by Mahlon Blaine). These editions were mainly put out by unscrupulous publisher Samuel Roth. Taking advantage that banned books did not receive copyright protection in the U.S., Roth put out a series of supposedly copyrighted editions (which never was registered with the Library of Congress) which altered the text and added illustrations—line drawings and photographs—which were not by Prin. After 1955, Roth appended an extra ten chapters falsely credited to Prin 23 years after the original book, including an invented visit to New York where she met with Roth himself. None of this was true. The original autobiography finally saw a new translation and publication in 1996. For a few years during the 1930s, Prin owned the Montparnasse cabaret L'Oasis, which was later renamed Chez Kiki. Her
music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...
performances in black hose and garters included crowd-pleasing risqué songs, which were uninhibited, yet inoffensive. She later departed Paris to avoid the occupying German army during World War II, which entered the city in June 1940. She did not return to live in the city immediately after the war.


Death and legacy

Prin died at age 51 on 29 April 1953 after collapsing outside her flat in Montparnasse, apparently of complications of alcoholism or drug dependence. At the time of her death, she weighed . A large crowd of artists and admirers attended her Paris funeral and followed the procession to her interment in the '' Cimetière parisien de Thiais''. Her tomb identifies her as: "Kiki, 1901–1953, singer, actress, painter, Queen of Montparnasse". ''Life'' magazine featured a three-page obituary of Prin in its 29 June 1953 edition, concluding with a memory from one of her friends who said: "We laughed, my God how we laughed." Tsuguharu Foujita remarked that, with Kiki's death, the glorious days of Montparnasse were buried forever. Long after her death, Prin remains the embodiment of the outspokenness, audacity and creativity that marked the interwar period of life in Montparnasse. She represents a strong artistic force in her own right as a woman. In 1989, biographers Billy Klüver and Julie Martin called her "one of the century's first truly independent women". In her honor, a
daylily A daylily, day lily or ditch-lily is a flowering plant in the genus ''Hemerocallis'' , a member of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae, native to Asia. Despite the common name, it is not taxonomically classified in the lily gen ...
has been named ''Kiki de Montparnasse''. On 14 May 2022, ''
Le Violon d'Ingres ''Le Violon d'Ingres'' (French for ''Ingres's Violin'') is a black-and-white photograph created by American visual artist Man Ray in 1924. It is one of his best-known photographs and of surrealism, surrealist photography. The picture was first pub ...
'', which depicts Prin's back overlaid with a violin's
f-hole A sound hole is an opening in the body of a string instrument, stringed musical instrument, usually the upper Sound board (music), sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * Round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; ...
s, sold for $12.4 million, setting a record as the most expensive photograph ever sold at auction.


Gallery

Julien Mandel"> File:Julian Mandel 6.jpg, c. 1920 File:Erotic postcard by Julien Mandel.jpg, Postcard, c. 1920 File:Mädchen mit Vase by J. Mandel.jpg File:Marionnette à fils by J. Mandel.tif


Filmography

* 1923: '' L'Inhumaine'' by
Marcel L'Herbier Marcel L'Herbier (; 23 April 1888 – 26 November 1979) was a French filmmaker who achieved prominence as an avant-garde theorist and imaginative practitioner with a series of silent films in the 1920s. His career as a director continued unti ...
* 1923: '' Le Retour à la Raison'' by
Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...
, short film * 1923: '' Ballet Mécanique'' by
Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
, short film * 1923: ''
Entr'acte (or , ;Since 1932–35 the recommends this spelling, with no apostrophe, so historical, ceremonial and traditional uses (such as the 1924 René Clair film title) are still spelled . and ', , and ) means 'between the acts'. It can mean a pau ...
'' by
René Clair René Clair (; 11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette (), was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. H ...
, short film * 1923: '' La Galerie des monstres'' by Jaque Catelain * 1926: '' Emak-Bakia'' by Man Ray, short film * 1928: '' L'Étoile de mer'' by Man Ray * 1928: ''Paris express'' or ''Souvenirs de Paris'' by Pierre Prévert and Marcel Duhamel, short film * 1930: ''Le Capitaine jaune'' by Anders Wilhelm Sandberg * 1933: ''Cette vieille canaille'' by
Anatole Litvak Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (10 May 1902 – 15 December 1974), commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Russian-American filmmaker. Born to Jewish parents in Kiev, he began his theatrical training at age 13 in Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, ...


''Kiki's Memoirs''

* * * * * ''Kiki's Memoirs'' (1996) translation by Samuel Putnam (original ed. published by J. Corti, Paris) * ''Souvenirs'', introduction by Ernest Hemingway and Tsuguharu Foujita, foreword and notes by Billy Klüver and Julie Martin, translation by Dominique Lablanche, Hazan, 1999. * ''Souvenirs retrouvés'', preface by Serge Plantureux, José Corti, 2005. * ''Kiki's Memoirs'' (2009) 'Recuerdos recobrados''translation by José Pazó Espinosa (in Spanish – published by Nocturna) * ''Kiki Souvenirs, 1929'' (2005) translation by N. Semoniff (in Russian – published by Salamandra P.V.V., 2011) * ''Kiki's Memoirs, 1930'' (2006) translation by N. Semoniff (in Russian – published by Salamandra P.V.V., 2011)


References


Citations


Works cited

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Further reading

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prin, Alice 1901 births 1953 deaths People from Châtillon-sur-Seine French artists' models French women painters French modern painters Muses (persons) Nightclub performers Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery 20th-century French women singers 20th-century French women artists