Jacqueline Marval was the pseudonym for Marie Josephine Vallet (19 October 1866 – 28 May 1932), who was a French painter,
lithographer
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...
and sculptor.
Early life
Vallet was born in
Quaix-en-Chartreuse into a family of school teachers.
She was married in 1886, to a traveling salesperson, Albert Valentin, but separated from her husband in 1891 after the death of her son.
She moved to
Grenoble
Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...
and worked as a seamstress sewing waistcoats
before moving to Paris in 1900.
In 1900 Vallet took on the pseudonym Jacqueline Marval, "Marval" being the composite of her first and last name "MARie VALlet".
Career as an artist

In 1894, Marval met the painter and began living with him in Paris, where she was introduced to
Les Nabis
The Nabis (, ) were a group of young French artists active in Paris from 1888 until 1900, who played a large part in the transition from Impressionism and academic art to abstract art, symbolism and the other early movements of modernism. The me ...
group.
Girot introduced her to
Jules Flandrin
Jules Flandrin (1871–1947) was a French painter, printer and draughtsman, born at Corenc, near Grenoble, on 9 July 1871. He was a pupil of Gustave Moreau. He was a contemporary of Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Albert Marquet, Henri Evenepo ...
, another painter and a student of
Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism ...
. The two fell in love, and Marval left Girot to move in with Flandrin in Rue Campagne-Première, in 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 ...
area. She would live with him as his companion for 20 years.
As an artist, Marval worked primarily as a painter; however, she also made "lithographs, watercolours, pastels, engravings, tapestry designs and experimented with sculpture."
Vallet's first works were rejected from the 1900
Salon des Indépendants
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name i ...
, but she succeeded in having a dozen paintings shown in that exhibition the following year, in 1901. The works rejected in 1900 were bought by the art dealer
Ambroise Vollard
Ambroise Vollard (; 3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with
being a major supporter an ...
, who continued to support her work.
Between 1901 and 1905, Marval worked frequently alongside
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
,
Albert Marquet
Albert Marquet (; 27 March 1875 – 14 June 1947) was a French painter. He initially became one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. Marquet subsequently painted in a more naturalistic style, primarily landscapes, bu ...
, and Flandrin, and the four influenced each other.
In 1902, several of her paintings were displayed alongside works by Flandrin, Albert Marquet, and Henri Matisse in a gallery in Rue Victor-Massé curated by
Berthe Weill
Berthe Weill (Paris 1865 – 1951) was a French art dealer who played a vital role in the creation of the market for twentieth-century art with the manifestation of the Parisian Avant-Garde. Although she is much less known than her well-establi ...
, who was particularly interested in promoting the works of female artists living in Paris.
Marval also exhibited in the first ''
Salon d'Automne,'' in 1902, where she showed her large scale painting ''
The Odalisques
''The Odalisques'' is a 1902-1903 Orientalist oil on canvas painting by Jacqueline Marval, showing five odalisques in an interior (three seated nude, one dressed and reclining on her elbow, and one standing, clothed and holding a tray). It is now ...
.''
In 1913, Marval was chosen by a jury made up of
Gabriel Astruc
Gabriel Astruc (14 March 1864 – 7 July 1938) was a French journalist, agent, promoter, theatre manager, theatrical impresario, and playwright whose career connects many of the best-known incidents and personalities of Belle Epoque Paris. He was ...
, the sculptor
Antoine Bourdelle
Antoine Bourdelle (; 30 October 1861 – 1 October 1929), born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was an influential and prolific French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important ...
, and the painters
Maurice Denis
Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with '' Les Nabis'', symbolism, ...
and
Édouard Vuillard
Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist, and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, Vuillard was a member of the avant garde artistic group Les Nabis, creating paintings that assembled areas ...
to decorate the foyer of the new
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...
. She created a series of twelve paintings on the theme of
Daphnis and Chloe
''Daphnis and Chloe'' (, ''Daphnis kai Chloē'') is a Greek pastoral novel written during the Roman Empire, the only known work of second-century Hellenistic romance writer Longus.
Setting and style
It is set on the Greek isle of Lesbos, whe ...
. The series was based on the
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...
' production of ''
Daphnis et Chloë ,'' performed the year prior.
Also in 1913, Marval protested against the removal from the
Salon d'Automne of
Kees van Dongen
Cornelis Theodorus Maria "Kees" van Dongen (26 January 1877 – 28 May 1968) was a Dutch-French painter who was one of the leading Fauves. Van Dongen's early work was influenced by the Hague School and symbolism and it evolved gradually into a ...
's ''The Spanish Shawl'', and became friends with Van Dongen, setting up her studio near his. Marval and Flandrin moved into 40 rue Denfert Rochereau, which was next door to Van Dongen in 1914.
She attended his famous costumed ball in 1914.
Marval's works began to be recognized across Europe and beyond; she exhibited in Barcelona, Liège, Venice, Zurich, Budapest, and Kyoto.
Beginning in 1923, Marval was active in favor of the creation of modern art museums in Paris and Grenoble. Towards the end of her life she fell into poverty.
Marval died of cancer at the
Hôpital Bichât 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 ...
in 1932.
After her death, her works were held in the Galerie Druet before it was closed in 1938 and they were sold. Her painting ''Portrait of Dolly Davis'', 1925 is in the collection of the
Milwaukee Art Museum
The Milwaukee Art Museum (also referred to as MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection of over 34,000 works of art and gallery spaces totaling 150,000 sq. ft. (13,900 m²) make it the largest art museum in the state of Wis ...
.
[ The MAM link may not work in Firefox; use archive link instead.]
Critical reception and legacy
Critics gave Marval high praise during her career. In a 1911 issue of ''
The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs
''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation si ...
'', for example, it was written that at an exhibition at the Druet Gallery, "The paintings of Madame Marval were among the most striking..."
Apollinaire, aside from his compliments to ''Les Odalisques'', more generally makes comments on her work that refer to it as exciting, strong, and worthy of recognition.
Some critics referred to her as a
Fauve, a reflection of her choice of palette, which was heavily influenced by Fauve and
Impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
painters who came before her.
According to Lucien Manissieux, a student of Flandrin, "Marquet, Flandrin, Matisse all awaited each work she produced with curiosity and emotion" and there is some evidence that her male peers borrowed from her "brilliant colour and formal economy of her painting."
During her lifetime, Marval refused to exhibit in all-female exhibitions; yet, after her death, her career and work was celebrated in one.
The
Société des Femmes Artistes Modernes (FAM) was a women artists' collective in Paris. FAM was headed by Marie-Anne Camax-Zoegger (1887-1952), "a bourgeois French Catholic woman."
They put on a retrospective of Marval's work in 1933 as part of their annual exhibition.
Marval, who did not identify as a feminist, was appropriated by FAM as one and has since been celebrated as living a feminist life. Since her work was figural in nature, it fit well within the focus of FAM, which aimed to "organize annual exhibitions that featured the work of female artists from different countries and stylistic movements'."
Since her death, Marval's work has been exhibited many times, most often in France. A full list of exhibitions has been compiled on the websit
jacqueline-marval.com. In 2020-21, she was included in the exhibition ''Valadon et ses contemporaines'' at the Musée des beaux-arts de limoges, which was also on view at the Monstaère Royal de Brou from 13 March 2021 – 27 June 2021.
The Papillon Gallery wrote that "Marval's paintings are provocative and edgy, challenging and unusual, she was an important modernist at the earliest moments of the movement."
Gallery
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
*
* (in French and English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marval, Jacqueline
1866 births
1932 deaths
19th-century French painters
20th-century French painters
20th-century French women painters
People from Isère
Pseudonymous artists
19th-century French women painters