Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Renoir’s Dancer
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://catherinehewitt.co.uk/
CITY: Surrey
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: British
http://catherinehewitt.co.uk/contact/ Agent: Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency Ltd, 36 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BU, Tel: 00 44 207 222 7574, mail@andrewlownie.co.uk
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: nr 95000648
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/nr95000648
HEADING: Hewitt, Catherine
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373 __ |a Courtauld Institute of Art |2 naf
374 __ |a Authors |2 lcsh
375 __ |a female
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a Her Buddhism, 1995: |b CIP t.p. (Catherine Hewitt)
670 __ |a The mistress of Paris, 2015: |b page before title page (Catherine Hewitt studies French Literature and Art History at Royal Holloway, University of London and the Courtauld Institute of Art; her proposal for the Mistress of Paris was awarded the runner-up’s prize in the 2012 Biographers’ Club Tony Lothian Competition for the best proposal by an uncommissioned, first-time biographer; she lives in a village in Surrey)
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PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Royal Holloway, University of London, B.A. (with first-class honors); Courtauld Institute of Art, M.A.; Courtauld Institute and Royal Holloway, Ph.D., 2012.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, biographer, translator, independent scholar.
AVOCATIONS:Reading, cooking, and taking walks with her cockerpoo.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
British author Catherine Hewitt holds a doctorate in French art and literature and also works as a French translator. Her dissertation, The Formation of the Family in 19th-Century French Literature and Art, established Hewitt as an expert in French history and culture of the nineteenth century, and she has gone on to use this background to inform lively popular biographies. She is the author of two well-received works, The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret and Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon.
In an online Trip Fiction Website interview, Hewitt commented on how she manages to make biography both interesting and accessible to non-academic readers: “I ensure there is complete underlying academic integrity in the work, but I also try to humanise the story. I’ll add colour through what may have been seen or smelt at the time, or what the prevailing weather was on a given day. But only if supported by research. It took me slightly longer than two years to complete my research for Renoir’s Dancer.”
The Mistress of Paris
Hewitt blends a biography of the Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne with a history of mid- to late-nineteenth-century Paris in The Mistress of Paris. Valtesse was indeed the mistress or inspiration of many men. She was painted by Edouard Manet, informed the main character of Emile Zola’s novel, Nana, and had rumored affairs with the powerful and mighty, including Napoleon III and the future king of England, Edward VII. She assembled a fortune in her lifetime, with three mansions and carriages and art works that were envied by all. Yet behind this glamorous and hedonistic existence was the secret of the book’s subtitle. Valtesse was not a comtesse or any form of royalty. Instead she was born into poverty, living in the slums of Paris as a child and working as a street prostitute. Through grit and determination and the good luck of good looks, she raised herself out of such humble origins to take Paris by storm, becoming a celebrity of the time, but always hiding her damning secret.
Reviewing The Mistress of Paris in Library Journal, Stacy Shaw termed it an “entertaining read … [that] will likely appeal to history
buffs as well as those who enjoy a well-written biography.” A Kirkus Reviews critic also had praise, noting: “A biographer debuts with the astonishing story of Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne.” The critic added: “Her intriguing portrait shines through. A thoroughly researched and clearly written account of a determined and talented woman
and of an era.” Similarly, French Studies reviewer Sara Phenix observed: “Hewitt’s monograph is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex lives of the great nineteenth-century courtesans, and proves to be a textual encounter much like, according to the rapturous descriptions in Hewitt’s book, an evening spent with Valtesse herself — both pleasurable and edifying.” London Observer Online writer Alexander Larman also had a high assessment, calling The Mistress of Paris an “enthralling story, told with both conviction and sympathy,” as did online Bookbag reviewer Luke Marlowe, who dubbed the work a “skillfully woven tapestry of a fascinating life, … [and] a hugely interesting and surprisingly involving read.” Irish Examiner Online writer Liz Ryan termed it a “handsome boudoir book,” while Historical Novel Society Website reviewer Elicia Parkinson found it to be a “fascinating read about a woman who started with nothing but ended with everything, including respect.”
Renoir's Dancer
With Renoir’s Dancer, Hewitt again offers a biography of a famous French woman of the late nineteenth century who had a secret. Suzanne Valadon became a famed model of the Impressionists but came from humble origins. The illegitimate daughter of a linen maid from the provinces, she was named originally Marie, and was brought to Montmartre by her mother where she changed her name to Suzanne and as a teenager was attracting the attention of Impressionist painters as a fine model. At eighteen she gave birth to an illegitimate child who became the famous painter of Montmartre scenes, Maurice Utrillo. She had affairs with Toulouse Lautrec and the composer Eric Satie, neither of which went well. She was the model for the dancer in Renoir’s famous Dance at Bourgival, and she had yet another secret: she was a fine painter in her own right. She studied with Edgar Degas and created vibrant still lifes and portraits, with her work accepted for exhibition in 1894 at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. “Her talent was towering, her breakthrough simply inspiring and her life genuinely extraordinary,” noted Glasgow’s Sunday Herald Online reviewer Hugh MacDonald, who added: “She was also one of a kind. Valadon loved sex and drink and never denied herself either.” MacDonald found this a “compelling book.”
Reviewing Renoir’s Dancer in Booklist, Donna Seaman felt that “Hewitt’s straight-ahead telling of Valadon’s dramatic, many-faceted story captures this artist … with precision, narrative drive, and low-key awe.” A Kirkus Reviews critic similarly called the biography a “well-researched tribute to and resurrection of a master of fin de siécle art,” while a Publishers Weekly contributor termed it a “book that reads like an opera libretto revolving around a pioneering spirit who bristled at the limiting label of ‘woman artist.'” Online Bookbag writer John Lloyd also voiced praise, commenting: “You get a very clear picture … at the hands of this author, and throughout the story the woman’s multiple changes in name, persona and status are just fragments of the multifarious things you can take on board. Certainly, … I think that if you are in the market for hefty books where biography and the history of art collide, you will find little to disappoint you here.” Writing in the Washington Post Online, Reagan Upshaw observed that in this “entertaining book … Hewitt makes her subject’s life an armature on which to hang a history of the Belle Époque, and she includes erudite digressions into the major events of the time.” Still higher praise came from Historical Novel Society Website reviewer Janice Derr, who noted: “Hewitt’s Paris sparkles with life and energy. The rich layering of details along with the eccentric cast of characters reads like a highly engrossing novel.” Sydney Morning Herald Online contributor Steven Carroll was also impressed, commenting that “Hewitt tells her story with the colourful immediacy of a Renoir.” Likewise, Library Journal Online reviewer Barbara Hoffert concluded: “Hewitt here paints a remarkable life.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 1995, Ilene Cooper, review of Buddhism, p. 56; January 1, 2018, Donna Seaman, review of Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon, p. 30.
French Studies, January 217, Sara Phenix, review of The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret, p. 124.
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2016, review of The Mistress of Paris; November 15, 2017, review of Renoir’s Dancer.
Library Journal, February 1, 2017, Stacy Shaw, review of The Mistress of Paris, p. 87.
Publishers Weekly, November 13, 2017, review of Renoir’s Dancer, p. 51.
ONLINE
Andrew Lownie Agency Website, http://www.andrewlownie.co.uk/ (February 13, 2018), “Catherine Hewitt.”
Biographers, https://www.biographers.club/ (February 13, 2018), “Catherine Hewitt.”
Bookbag, http://www.thebookbag.co.uk (November 5, 2015), Luke Marlowe, review of The Mistress of Paris; (February 13, 2018), John Lloyd, review of Renoir’s Dancer.
Bookpage Online, https://bookpage.com/ (March 19, 2018), “What They’re Reading: Catherine Hewitt.”
Catherine Hewitt Website, http://catherinehewitt.co.uk (February 13, 2018).
Historical Novel Society, https://historicalnovelsociety.org/ (February 1, 2017), Elicia Parkinson, review of The Mistress of Paris; (February 1, 2018), Janice Derr, review of Renoir’s Dancer.
Irish Examiner Online, https://www.irishexaminer.com/ (November 31, 2015), Liz Ryan, review of The Mistress of Paris.
Library Journal Online, https://reviews.libraryjournal.com/ (September 11, 2017), Barbara Hoffert, review of Renoir’s Dancer.
Observer Online, https://www.theguardian.com/ (November 22, 2105), Alexander Larman, review of The Mistress of Paris.
Sunday Herald Online, http://www.heraldscotland.com/ (November 18, 2017), Hugh MacDonald, review of Renoir’s Dancer.
Sydney Morning Herald Online, https://www.smh.com.au/ (December 14, 2017), Steven Carroll, review of Renoir’s Dancer.
Trip Fiction, https://www.tripfiction.com/ (October 13, 2017), “Talking to Author Catherine Hewitt about Renoir’s Dancer.”
Washington Post Online, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ (March 12 ,2018), Reagan Upshaw, review of Renoir’s Dancer.
Catherine Hewitt’s academic career began with a passion for 19th-century French art, literature and social history.
Having been awarded a first-class honours degree in BA French from Royal Holloway, University of London, she went on to attend the prestigious Courtauld Institute of Art where she took a Masters in the History of 19th-Century French Art and was awarded a distinction. In 2012, she completed her PhD on The Formation of the Family in 19th-Century French Literature and Art, with joint supervision from Royal Holloway and the Courtauld Institute. Throughout her academic career, she has regularly presented papers at conferences, published work in academic journals and was awarded numerous university prizes.
After being awarded her PhD, she set out on her career in biography. Based on meticulous research, Catherine’s writing seeks to lift history out of the dusty annals of academia and bring its characters and events to life for the 21st-century reader. Her writing introduces real people, telling their stories in intimate detail and enabling readers to share their successes and frustrations. As well as writing, Catherine lectures and runs workshops on 19th-century French art, literature and social history, always seeking to share her enthusiasm for French history and culture. She also works as a freelance translator, and her portfolio includes a translation of a permanent exhibition of the work of the radical French female painter Suzanne Valadon for a gallery near Limoges in France.
Catherine lives in a village in Surrey, UK. When she is not writing, she can be found helping restore her family’s house in the middle of rural France, cooking, reading and enjoying country walks with her little black cockerpoo, Alfie.
Catherine Hewitt Biography
Catherine Hewitt has had a long career in academia, with a special interest in 19th-century French art, literature and social history.
Having been awarded a first-class honours degree in BA French from Royal Holloway, University of London, she went on to attend the prestigious Courtauld Institute of Art where she took a Masters in the History of 19th-Century French Art and was awarded a distinction. In 2012, she completed her PhD on The Formation of the Family in 19th-Century French Literature and Art, with joint supervision from Royal Holloway and the Courtauld Institute. Throughout her academic career, she has regularly presented papers at conferences, published work in academic journals and was awarded numerous university prizes.
On completing her PhD, Catherine set out to use her academic training to bring history and people alive for a mainstream audience. She now writes, lectures and runs workshops on 19th-century French art, literature and social history. She also works as a freelance translator, and her portfolio includes a translation of a permanent exhibition of the work of the radical French female painter Suzanne Valadon for a gallery near Limoges in France.
Catherine lives in a village in Surrey. When she is not working, she can be found helping restore her family’s cottage in the middle of rural France, cooking, reading and enjoying country walks with her dog, Alfie.
How I Found the Agency
I came across Andrew’s agency through the Biographers’ Club. Andrew came highly recommended. He was 100% supportive from the outset and took an active interest in my work. The great benefit of his service for a new writer must surely be the personal attention and guidance one receives. There is no danger of feeling lost.
Author News
Starred Kirkus review for Renoir's Dancer 31 Oct 2017
A starred Kirkus review for Catherine Hewitt’s Renoir’s Dancer published this week in UK and in US in February.
Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) may not be a name most people mention when they discuss great artists. This biography should change that.One might wonder how Valadon, whom Hewitt (The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret, 2015) describes in this excellent biography as having “revolutionized the art world and irreversibly altered the place of women within that world,” hasn’t received more widespread recognition. One reason is that Valadon adhered to no school of painting; another is that she was “a victim of the company she kept.” Some may think of her only as the mother of cityscape painter Maurice Utrillo or the model who inspired Renoir’s Dance at Bougival and The Large Bathers or the muse of Toulouse-Lautrec. Born in rural France to a linen maid and a father she never knew, Valadon moved to Montmartre with her mother and sister after her father died. When she was older, she frequented clubs like Le Chat Noir, where young artists discussed their desire to depict “contemporary life, the sweat and odour of real men and women.” A self-taught artist, she started as a nude model. But when Edgar Degas saw her secret drawings, he said, “you are one of us,” and helped her become the first woman painter to have works accepted into the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Hewitt chronicles Valadon’s romances and her difficulties in raising Maurice, whose childhood fits led to his lifelong battle with alcoholism. More importantly, the author demonstrates that Valadon’s works were revolutionary not just because of her style—”sharp, almost crude contours,” with the use of single lines for profiles—but because of the subject matter, such as children who, far from looking like the cosseted offspring of impressionist works, were naked, awkward, and “lonely, so incredibly lonely.” Hewitt sums up Valadon’s achievement perfectly: “Other artists showed what viewers wanted to see. Suzanne showed them what was true.” A well-researched tribute to and resurrection of a master of fin de siècle art.
New Catherine Hewitt book to Icon 23 Oct 2017
Icon have bought UK & Commonwealth rights in Catherine Hewitt’s new biography No Ordinary Woman: Rosa Bonheur, France’s Greatest Painter of Animals
Renoir's Dancer sold in US 22 Dec 2016
US rights in Catherine Hewitt’s Renoir’s Dancer, the life of Suzanne Valadon, considered the Impressionists’ most beautiful model, have been sold to St Martin’s Press. Icon publish in the UK in 2017.
Life of nineteenth century courtesan to St Martin's Press 01 Mar 2016
North American rights in Catherine Hewitt’s The Mistress of Paris, the filmic biography of the nineteenth century Paris courtesan Countess de la Bigne and inspiration for Nana, have been bought by St Martin’s Press.
Renoir's Dancer sold to Icon 29 Jun 2015
UK and Commonwealth rights in Catherine Hewitt’s new biography, a life of Suzanne Valadon, have been bought by Icon. Considered the Impressionists’ most beautiful model, Valadon gave birth to an illegitimate son, the painter Maurice Utrillo, when she was just eighteen and enjoyed affairs with countless painters and composer Erik Satie.
Catherine Hewitt releases showreel 24 Mar 2014
CATHERINE HEWITT
Catherine Hewitt
No credit.
Catherine Hewitt studied French Literature and Art History at Royal Holloway, University of London and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her proposal for The Mistress of Paris was awarded the runner-up's prize in the 2012 Biographers' Club Tony Lothian Competition for the best proposal by an uncommissioned, first-time biographer. She lives in a village in Surrey.
WHAT THEY'RE READING: CATHERINE HEWITT
Posted by Lily, Assistant Editor on March 19, 2018
In Catherine Hewitt’s Renoir’s Dancer, a muse comes to life. Born into poverty in late 19th-century France, Suzanne Valadon’s life choices were limited. But she was able to parlay her beauty into a thriving career as an artist’s model for Impressionist painters—many of whom she had affairs with. However, the headstrong and ambitious Valadon was so much more than a muse. She was a talented painter herself, and she refused to accept the limitations of her gender. Her fascinating story is done justice in Hewitt’s enthralling biography. (Read the review.)
Hewitt, who lives in Surrey, England, is a French translator and scholar of 19th-century French literature and art. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, cooking and taking walks with her cockerpoo, Alfie. Here, she tells us about a few books she’s been reading.
Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba
Anne Sebba’s study of the way French women lived through the war had me hooked from the very first page. The historical context of World War II will be familiar to most, but Sebba has a marvelous way of focusing in on intimate, everyday details we can all relate to: What would you pack if you suddenly learned that enemy troops had invaded your city and you had to leave your home immediately? Clothes? Family heirlooms? Food? As a woman, how would you cope if it was your time of the month when you were taken prisoner? This book reaches through time and makes us feel these women’s plight. It invites us to ask questions of ourselves—and the answers can be surprising.
Confidence by Katie Piper
Katie Piper has to be one of the most inspiring women of our time. Having suffered rape and a disfiguring acid attack, Piper has rebuilt her body and her confidence, as well as launching the Katie Piper Foundation, a charity designed to offer support and advice to burns victims. This book is the latest achievement in her mission to help others. Here, Piper explores the fragile concept of confidence in an intelligent and human manner. Through her own experience and those of the people she has met on her journey, Piper draws lessons that are both motivational and pragmatic. These are powerful stories and practical tips from a woman who has overcome more difficulties than many of us will ever have to face. Piper’s is a voice worth listening to, and it is hard not to be uplifted by this book.
Paris Between Empires 1814-1852 by Philip Mansel
This enthralling study tells the story of Paris between 1814 and 1852, from the end of the Napoleonic era to the arrival of the great man’s nephew, Emperor Napoleon III. The research here is staggering. Mansel presents his findings in an accessible and engaging way, bringing 19th-century Paris vividly to life. It is, in essence, a biography of the city that draws on the letters, diaries and accounts of those who knew it best—the Parisians. The result is a perfect marriage of fine scholarship and engrossing narrative. Riveting and informative, this is history at its best.
QUOTE:
I ensure there is complete underlying academic integrity in the work, but I also try to humanise the story. I’ll add colour through what may have been seen or smelt at the time, or what the prevailing weather was on a given day. But only if supported by research. It took me slightly longer than 2 years to complete my research for ‘Renoir’s Dancer’.
Talking to author Catherine Hewitt about Renoir’s Dancer
13th October 2017
Catherine HewittCatherine Hewitt studied French Literature and art history at Royal Holloway, University of London and then at the revered Courtauld Institute of Art.
Her proposal for ‘The Mistress of Paris‘ won a prize in the 2012 Biographers’ Club Tony Lothian competition for uncommissioned first-time biographers. The book was published in 2015 and tells the story of glamorous courtesan Valtesse de la Bigne cutting a swathe through 19th century Parisian society.
After completing her PhD, Catherine set out to use her academic training to bring history and people alive for a more mainstream audience.
Catherine was at the Guildford Book Festival this week, talking about her new book, ‘Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon‘, which will be published on 2nd November by Icon Books. TripFiction’s Andrew was at Catherine’s event and was lucky to chat with her afterwards.
Suzanne Valadon came from humble origins, growing up in poverty with her mother and not knowing the identity of her father. She was a trapeze artist, who became an artists’ model after an accident. Living in bohemian Montmartre, Suzanne knew and sat for all the great Impressionist painters of the time, including Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas.
But Catherine explained how Suzanne, without any formal training, became a highly regarded artist herself. Her work is known for its strong lines, bold brush strokes and brutal honesty (even on her self-portraits)…all very unusual for a lady of the times. In 1894, Suzanne became the first woman artist admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. You will have to buy the book to find out more about the remarkable and talented Suzanne Valadon.
TF: What made Montmartre such a favourite milieu for the great Impressionist painters of the late 19th century, do you think?
CH: It was a much more relaxed place than the City of Paris. The rents and drinks were cheaper, and the atmosphere was congenial for bohemian artists.
TF: How do you set about making a biography interesting and accessible to less academic readers?
CH: I ensure there is complete underlying academic integrity in the work, but I also try to humanise the story. I’ll add colour through what may have been seen or smelt at the time, or what the prevailing weather was on a given day. But only if supported by research. It took me slightly longer than 2 years to complete my research for ‘Renoir’s Dancer’.
TF: What are your own favourite books based in France?
CH: I enjoy the classics. Zola. Flaubert. Dickens. But generally, a writer should just read as widely as possible.
TF: TripFiction is all about seeing a location through an author’s eyes. What are some of your favourite paintings that exude a really strong sense of place?
CH: I love Manet’s Music in the Tuileries, for its evocation of the famous gardens by the Seine (painted in 1862).
Manet’s Music in the Tuileries, courtesy of the National Gallery
And Gustave Caillebotte conjures up Parisian life so well, in an Impressionist style but more realistically than others.
TF: What other writing projects do you have in the pipeline, Catherine, and where might they be based?
CH: I have been commissioned by Icon Books to write a biography of Rosa Bonheur. She was a French artist and sculptor, known for her artistic realism and paintings of animals, and widely considered to be the most famous female artist of the 19th century. Researching her life and work will take me another 2 years!
TF: Good luck with that next project, Catherine, and thank you so much for telling us all about Suzanne Valadon and for sketching a miniature portrait of your own writing life for TripFiction readers.
Catherine is not on Social Media at this time. You can buy her book through TripFiction.
Do come and join team TripFiction on Social Media:
Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction)
Hewitt, Catherine
Catherine Hewitt
Catherine’s first biography, Valtesse de la Bigne: A Courtesan’s Conquest of Paris (Icon, 2015), was awarded the runner-up’s prize in the 2012 Biographers’ Club Tony Lothian competition. The biography traces the incredible tale of the bewitching courtesan, the Countess Valtesse de la Bigne, who clawed her way up from humble, impoverished origins to become one of the most sought-after and glamorous women in Paris. Her lovers included countless painters, writers and politicians, while her affairs with women caused a scandal in turn-of-the-century Paris.
Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon (Icon, 2017) explores the life of the woman considered to be the Impressionists’ most beautiful model, herself a talented artist. Suzanne had affairs with a number of the most renowned painters of the day, and gave birth to an illegitimate son, the future painter Maurice Utrillo. But, from a working class background and with no formal training, she pursued her artistic career, and in 1894 was accepted to the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
Catherine has a long career in academia, with a special interest in 19th-century French art, literature and social history. Having completed her PhD on The Formation of the Family in 19th-Century French Literature and Art in 2012, Catherine set out to use her academic training to bring history and people alive for a mainstream audience. She now lectures regularly, writes, translates and runs workshops on 19th-century French art, literature and social history.
Catherine lives in a village in Surrey. When she is not working, she can be found helping restore her family’s cottage in the middle of rural France.
QUOTE:
Hewitt's straight-ahead telling of Valadon's dramatic, many-faceted
story captures this artist with precision, narrative drive, and low-key awe
Print Marked Items
Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of
Suzanne Valadon
Donna Seaman
Booklist.
114.9-10 (Jan. 1, 2018): p30.
COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
* Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon.
By Catherine Hewitt.
Feb. 2018.480p. illus. St. Martin's, $26.99 (9781250157652); e-book, $14.99 (9781250157645). 759.4.
Hewitt (The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret, 2017)
continues her mission to tell the stories of coverdy powerful, yet overlooked French women in this step-bystep,
swerve-by-swerve biography of the artist's model and muse, "revolutionary" artist, and mother of an
artist, Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938). A wildly impulsive country girl who loved to draw, she was raised by
her determined single mother, a hotel maid who boldly brought them to Paris, where beautiful and talented
Valadon modeled for prominent artists and became one of few women artists whose work was shown in
prestigious exhibitions. Valadon, who "danced to no one's tune but her own" and reveled in Montmartre cafe
life, provides Hewitt with a glorious cast, including Renoir, van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Degas--ardent
champions of Valadon's work--and Andre Utter, Valadon's much younger husband. Valadon lived a life of
ceaseless tumult and trauma as her son (father unknown), a prodigy burdened with afflictions exacerbated
by alcoholism, lurched from crisis to crisis, even as he attained fame and wealth as Maurice Utrillo, the
great painter of Parisian street scenes. Hewitt's straight-ahead telling of Valadon's dramatic, many-faceted
story captures this artist of "honesty and passion," this "matriarch of creative rebellion and gutsy
expressivity," with precision, narrative drive, and low-key awe.--Donna Seaman
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Seaman, Donna. "Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon." Booklist, 1 Jan. 2018, p. 30.
General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525185535/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=60c8d5db. Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A525185535
QUOTE:
well-researched tribute to and resurrection of a master of fin de siAaAaAeA?cle ar
Hewitt, Catherine: RENOIR'S DANCER
Kirkus Reviews.
(Nov. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hewitt, Catherine RENOIR'S DANCER St. Martin's (Adult Nonfiction) $27.99 2, 27 ISBN: 978-1-250-
15765-2
Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) may not be a name most people mention when they discuss great artists. This
biography should change that.
One might wonder how Valadon, whom Hewitt (The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who
Built an Empire on a Secret, 2015) describes in this excellent biography as having "revolutionized the art
world and irreversibly altered the place of women within that world," hasn't received more widespread
recognition. One reason is that Valadon adhered to no school of painting; another is that she was "a victim
of the company she kept." Some may think of her only as the mother of cityscape painter Maurice Utrillo or
the model who inspired Renoir's Dance at Bougival and The Large Bathers or the muse of ToulouseLautrec.
Born in rural France to a linen maid and a father she never knew, Valadon moved to Montmartre
with her mother and sister after her father died. When she was older, she frequented clubs like Le Chat Noir,
where young artists discussed their desire to depict "contemporary life, the sweat and odour of real men and
women." A self-taught artist, she started as a nude model. But when Edgar Degas saw her secret drawings,
he said, "you are one of us," and helped her become the first woman painter to have works accepted into the
Salon de la SociAaAaAeA@tAaAaAeA@ Nationale des Beaux-A Hewitt chronicles Valadon's romances
and her difficulties in raising Maurice, whose childhood fits led to his lifelong battle with alcoholism. More
importantly, the author demonstrates that Valadon's works were revolutionary not just because of her style--
"sharp, almost crude contours," with the use of single lines for profiles--but because of the subject matter,
such as children who, far from looking like the cosseted offspring of impressionist works, were naked,
awkward, and "lonely, so incredibly lonely." Hewitt sums up Valadon's achievement perfectly: "Other artists
showed what viewers wanted to see. Suzanne showed them what was true."
A well-researched tribute to and resurrection of a master of fin de siAaAaAeA?cle ar
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Hewitt, Catherine: RENOIR'S DANCER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514267807/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d0c2c5c2.
Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A514267807
QUOTE:
book that reads like an opera
libretto revolving around a pioneering spirit who bristled at the limiting label of "woman artist."
Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of
Suzanne Valadon
Publishers Weekly.
264.46 (Nov. 13, 2017): p51+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon
Catherine Hewitt. St. Martin's, $27.99 (480p) ISBN 978-1-250-15765-2
Hewitt (The Mistress of Paris) considers the unlikely trajectory of French painter and model Suzanne
Valadon (1865-1938), who was the child of a housemaid and became the belle of Montmartre as Renoir's
muse and a talented painter in her own right. The book illuminates the social web at the heart of the Paris art
scene, focusing on the camaraderie that developed between Valadon and artists Toulouse Lautrec and Edgar
Degas, which led her to model for Renoir (she is immortalized in the Dance at Bougival). After Degas
recognized the abundant raw talent of the model turned artist, he mentored her, but her bohemian lifestyle
grew difficult for her to keep up after she gave birth at age 18 to a son, Maurice. Hewitt persuasively casts
Valadon as a pragmatist adept at navigating her public and private lives, resolving Maurice's uncertain
paternity in 1891, then marrying businessman Paul Mousis and exhibiting internationally soon thereafter.
Her free spirit prevailed decades later when she fell for her son's friend, the then-23-year-old painter Andre
Utter, who would became her second husband as well as her business manager. The cast of world-class
artists and the stories of their romantic entanglements combine to produce a book that reads like an opera
libretto revolving around a pioneering spirit who bristled at the limiting label of "woman artist." (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon." Publishers Weekly, 13 Nov. 2017, p. 51+. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A515326026/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=fba95735. Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A515326026
QUOTE:
entertaining read, this book will likely appeal to history
buffs as well as those who enjoy a well-written biography
Hewitt, Catherine. The Mistress of Paris:
The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built
an Empire on a Secret
Stacy Shaw
Library Journal.
142.2 (Feb. 1, 2017): p87.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No
redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Hewitt, Catherine. The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret. St.
Martin's. Jan. 2017.368p. maps, notes, bibliog. index. ISBN 9781250120663. $27.99; ebk. ISBN
9781250120670. BIOG
Debut author Hewitt chronicles the life of Valtesse de la Bigne (1848-1910), one of the most famous
courtesans in 19th-century Paris. Born Louise Delabigne and often using the pseudonym Valtesse, the
eventual countess grew up in a meager household, her mother often moonlighting as a prostitute.
Disillusioned, Valtesse found her way onto the stage, where her beauty delighted far more than her
performance. After catching the eye of German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach, she became his
mistress and redirected her energies toward climbing the ranks of society. Valtesse became one of the most
prominent courtesans of her time, serving as the influence for a novel by Emile Zola and appearing in the
artwork of several painters. Hewitt has created an engaging and richly narrated biography exploring not only
this figure's life but also the inner workings of Paris at the time Valtesse's star began to rise. Reading like a
novel with enticing cliffehangers, Hewitt's work marries the life of Valtesse with the fascinating history of
Paris, imbuing both with vivacity. VERDICT An entertaining read, this book will likely appeal to history
buffs as well as those who enjoy a well-written biography.--Stacy Shaw, Orange, CA
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Shaw, Stacy. "Hewitt, Catherine. The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire
on a Secret." Library Journal, 1 Feb. 2017, p. 87. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A479301271/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b364cac0.
Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479301271
QUOTE:
A biographer debuts with the astonishing story of Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne
her intriguing portrait
shines through. A thoroughly researched and clearly written account of a determined and talented woman
and of an era.
Hewitt, Catherine: THE MISTRESS OF
PARIS
Kirkus Reviews.
(Nov. 1, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hewitt, Catherine THE MISTRESS OF PARIS Dunne/St. Martin's (Adult Nonfiction) $27.99 1, 24 ISBN:
978-1-250-12066-3
A biographer debuts with the astonishing story of Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne (1848-1910), who rose
from poverty and prostitution to enormous wealth, influence, and controversy.Hewitt--who studied French
literature and art, pursuits that led her to the woman she calls Valtesse through much of the tale--begins with
the serendipitous discovery in 1933 of some of Valtesse's vast art collection. The author then retreats to the
1840s and tells us the compelling story of Valtesse's mother, a woman who returns much later on to threaten
her daughter's hard-won status. Born as "Louise," Valtesse was fortunate with her stunning good looks
(lustrous red hair her most striking feature), and although she began as a street prostitute, her looks, good
fortune, and insatiable desires to read and learn transformed her quickly into a highly desirable companion
for powerful men. She eventually amassed a fortune, educated herself broadly, collected priceless works of
art, associated with some of the great artists of her time, including Manet and Edouard Detaille, lived in
great opulence, and became a glittering celebrity. Hewitt's work is nonjudgmental and even, at times, dropjawed
admiring. Every new twist in Valtesse's life brings surprises. She published books that sold well,
created works of art for popular shows (one attended by Buffalo Bill), dazzled the south of France, and
survived some potentially damning court cases (two involving her mother). Hewitt shows us Valtesse's
circumspection, as well: her great care to avoid scandal (one episode, sex on a train, threatened and then
diminished) and her preparation for retirement. The author's diction is at times a little conventional and even
cliched. She writes, for example, that Valtesse "had won the heart of Paris." But her intriguing portrait
shines through. A thoroughly researched and clearly written account of a determined and talented woman
and of an era.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Hewitt, Catherine: THE MISTRESS OF PARIS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2016. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A468389005/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a7722661.
Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468389005
Buddhism
Ilene Cooper
Booklist.
92.1 (Sept. 1, 1995): p56.
COPYRIGHT 1995 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Hewitt, Catherine. 1995,48p. index. illus. Thomson Learning, $15.95 (1-56847-375-3). DDC: 294.3.
Gr. 5-8. Good information written in a clear and easy-to-understand text is the hallmark of these two entries
in the World Religions series. Not as successful is the design of the books. Sidebars are generally useful,
highlighting or expanding certain details of the text, but they give the book a crowded feeling. The color
photos are crisp, if not always telling; one nice feature is a map of the world in each books center showing
where the religions flourish. A glossary and brief bibliography are appended.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Cooper, Ilene. "Buddhism." Booklist, 1 Sept. 1995, p. 56. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A17459533/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=62e63113.
Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A17459533
QUOTE:
All things considered, Hewitt's monograph is a [End Page 124] valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex lives of the great nineteenth-century courtesans, and proves to be a textual encounter much like, according to the rapturous descriptions in Hewitt's book, an evening spent with Valtesse herself — both pleasurable and edifying.
French Studies: A Quarterly Review
Volume 71, Number 1, January 2017
pp. 124-125
Sara Phenix
The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret. By Catherine Hewitt. London: Icon Books, 2015. 358 pp., ill.
In 1881, Valtesse de La Bigne, one of Paris's pre-eminent courtesans, attended a performance of the stage adaptation of Zola's Nana despite her profound objections: as the supposed inspiration for the eponymous character, the sophisticated Valtesse felt as though Zola had betrayed her — she sensed little kinship with his vulgar creation. However, like Anna Wintour at the 2006 premiere of The Devil Wears Prada, Valtesse — a fashion icon in her own right — attended the play in order to reassert control of her own image and claim superiority over her literary double. Zola's unmitigated failure that night proved to be her absolute triumph. These questions of identity and aesthetic production are at the heart of Catherine Hewitt's captivating new biography, a portrait of a fascinating woman who became one of the best-known grandes horizontales of her day. The daughter of an impoverished laundress turned prostitute, Louise Delabigne rechristened herself Valtesse (a portmanteau of 'Votre Altesse') de La Bigne in 1866 at the age of eighteen. In adopting a royal address and the aristocratic particule, Valtesse laid bare the social ambitions that belied her humble origins — the 'secret' of the book's title. While many of Valtesse's contemporaries chose similarly colourful monikers, Hewitt convincingly shows that Valtesse's name was as much a nom de plume as a nom de guerre: Valtesse was an author as well as a muse, and her life was her greatest work of fiction. A model for painters such as Manet, Detaille, and Gervex, Valtesse took up the brush for her own cheeky painting in an avant-garde gallery, and even commissioned portraits of fake aristocratic ancestors, thereby reverse-engineering a pedigree to justify her assumed title of Countess. Publishing under the pen name 'Ego', Valtesse also authored a highly circulated (and highly autobiographical) novel called Isola (Paris: Dentu, 1876). Hewitt's adept synthesis of diverse media — literature, correspondence, newspapers — shows how Valtesse was an expert manipulator of her public image. Of particular note is Hewitt's explanation of the intertwined industries of fashion and prostitution in nineteenth-century France: many of the women employed in the clothing industry became purveyors of both finery and flesh, and Valtesse's rise through the ranks from lingère to lionne is a testament to her ambition, intellect, and gift for self-reinvention. Although Hewitt deftly transforms primary materials into an engaging narrative, the reader may wonder if she occasionally overreaches in describing the mental or emotional states of her subjects. About whether Valtesse would accord Zola a sexual favour during his visit: 'There was no predicting how she would react, and Valtesse knew it. She relished the power that brought' (p. 148). On a stylistic note, Hewitt's repeated references to women as 'females' enacts a subtle dehumanization that is at odds with the book's attempt to explore the complicated humanity of its protagonist. All things considered, Hewitt's monograph is a [End Page 124] valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex lives of the great nineteenth-century courtesans, and proves to be a textual encounter much like, according to the rapturous descriptions in Hewitt's book, an evening spent with Valtesse herself — both pleasurable and edifying.
QUOTE:
You get a very clear picture (pun not intended, for once) at the hands of this author, and throughout the story the woman's multiple changes in name, persona and status are just fragments of the multifarious things you can take on board. Certainly, to close, I think that if you are in the market for hefty books where biography and the history of art collide, you will find little to disappoint you here.
Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon by Catherine Hewitt
Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon by Catherine Hewitt
Hewitt Renoir.jpg
Buy Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon by Catherine Hewitt at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Biography
Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewer: John Lloyd
Reviewed by John Lloyd
Summary: Hard to pick up, then hard to put down, this socially aware biography of an artist will appeal to many.
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 480 Date: November 2017
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781785782732
Share on: Delicious Digg Facebook Reddit Stumbleupon Follow us on Twitter
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Deep in the rural parts of France in the 1860s, you would never really expect to find someone who would come to embody a full artistic period – and not just a movement at that, but a full generation of both creative and societal change. And if you were to expect that someone, they would like as not be male. But almost stumbling into the hedonistic culture of Montmartre came Marie-Clementine Valadon. She started in the circus that first caught her teenaged eye, although her gymnastic career was short-lived. But what she did have from that was the poise to be an appealing model for some seriously important painters, and a natural beauty and figure to appeal to both them and their audiences. And what she also had, much to the surprise of many and the distaste of some, was artistic talent of her own…
None of this story was known to me – but boy, is it known to me now. And that, if anything, is the issue with the book, for it certainly might not fully sit with the man on the stereotypical omnibus I declare myself to be. It's a book that stamps its intentions right on the contents page, to be the definitive version of this story to gazump anyone else planning to create a study along these lines for years to come. The selected bibliography is almost twenty pages, the notes and references are on fifty. Such effort is taken to let us know the woman's origins, both as regards her family tree and the society that begat her, that nothing about art is mentioned until page sixty.
But that is to deny the import this story has. It begins with a cagey prologue referring to the rural village as hardly having running water, and the changes in society are flagged up most highly throughout. The place of a woman in society is utterly transformed within this timeline, the Paris Metro is begun, the Eiffel Tower pierces the sky as the tallest metal structure in the world at the time, cabaret is replaced by Chinese shadow puppetry is replaced by cinema, and so much more. In front of such minutiae, the tale of this one woman is quite riveting as regards what she goes through, what everyone around her thinks – and of course who all those people around her actually are. Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir the assumed lover, Erik Satie the besotted lover, and even her own son deserve more than fifteen minutes of fame.
I didn't mind that name-dropping approach to things, for it's all part and parcel of the story, and to repeat once you're OK with the almost forensic detail you will find this a compelling tale. You get multiple cliff-hanger moments as well, adding impact and poise to the narrative, although some are a little heavy-handed in foreshadowing things. She certainly lived an interesting life, in interesting times, and while I'm not always keen to get on board with a book of this length about a subject I'm mostly ignorant of, here it was fully justified. You get a very clear picture (pun not intended, for once) at the hands of this author, and throughout the story the woman's multiple changes in name, persona and status are just fragments of the multifarious things you can take on board. Certainly, to close, I think that if you are in the market for hefty books where biography and the history of art collide, you will find little to disappoint you here.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
The Vanishing Man - In Search of Velazquez by Laura Cumming is similarly an art biography and so much more besides.
Buy Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon by Catherine Hewitt at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon by Catherine Hewitt at Amazon.co.uk
Buy Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon by Catherine Hewitt at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon by Catherine Hewitt at Amazon.com.
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Categories: Catherine HewittReviewed by John Lloyd4.5 Star ReviewsBiographyNovember 2017ReviewsArt
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QUOTE:
Hewitt makes her subject’s life an armature on which to hang a history of the Belle Époque, and she includes erudite digressions into the major events of the time
entertaining book
Books Review
Suzanne Valadon was so much more than just the woman in Renoir’s paintings
By Reagan Upshaw March 12
The “secret life” referred to in the subtitle of Catherine Hewitt’s new biography of the postimpressionist artist Suzanne Valadon is a misnomer. Valadon had no secret life: She was always out front and as advertised. Born the daughter of a provincial laundrymaid in 1865, Valadon was a terror as a child growing up in Paris. By the time she was 10, the nuns in charge of her education had had enough, and her mother sent her for employment in the usual occupations open to adolescents at the time — seamstress, dishwasher, hatmaker and so on — with deplorable results. At the age of 15, it looked as if Valadon might have a career as a circus acrobat, but a trapeze injury put an end to that path.
(St. Martin’s)
Shortly afterward, though, she found a calling that could support her: artist’s model.
Considered by respectable society to be little better than a prostitute, a good model could still earn far more than a maid like Valadon’s mother. Valadon had the face and figure to attract attention and the physical stamina to hold poses by the hour. She was soon posing for Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, an eminent painter of murals, and by 17 she was a favored model — and the mistress — of Renoir. She appears in two of his most famous canvases, “Dance in the City” and “Dance at Bougival.”
CONTENT FROM HARRY'S
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Valadon was always up for a party, and her bohemian lifestyle inspired gossip linking her with many men. By 18 she was pregnant. Valadon never named the father of her son, if indeed she knew which of her lovers it was, but a minor artist and sometime boyfriend named Miguel Utrillo later formally claimed paternity. A story that made the rounds had him declare that he would be honored to sign his name to a work by Puvis or Renoir.
Many women modeled in Montmartre, and some undoubtedly became pregnant by their employers. But as “Renoir’s Dancer” points out, what made Valadon special was the talent and the resolve that enabled her to move from posing in front of an easel to standing behind one. She had demonstrated a knack for drawing since childhood, and watching the artists as they worked gave her an education in the process of oil painting. She showed her drawings to Toulouse-Lautrec, another of her employers, who in turn introduced her to Degas. Degas became a champion of her work. By the age of 28, Valadon was exhibiting at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She would exhibit her work in prestigious venues for the rest of her life.
Hewitt makes her subject’s life an armature on which to hang a history of the Belle Époque, and she includes erudite digressions into the major events of the time — the Franco-Prussian War, for example, or the Exposition Universelle of 1889, whose opening was crowned by the newly erected Eiffel Tower. There are copious footnotes and a bibliography that runs to several pages.
Auguste Renoir’s ”Suzanne Valadon,” c. 1885, oil on canvas. (Chester Dale Collection/Image courtesy National Gallery of Art)
It is all the more surprising therefore that Hewitt, perhaps aiming at as large an audience as possible, emphasizes the subject’s emotional rather than artistic life, occasionally delivered in prose that sounds needlessly melodramatic. Here is Renoir, depicted at the time he began to use Valadon as a model: “Women adored him. And with that intense gaze, magnetism and almost Mediterranean allure, Renoir possessed all the qualities for which [Valadon] had already demonstrated her weakness.”
Valadon eventually married a businessman and lived a life of suburban comfort with him; her son, Maurice; and her mother for about a decade. Maurice had been shy and unhappy since childhood and by adolescence was taking refuge in alcohol from school bullying. A move back to Montmartre did not remedy the situation, and Valadon’s attempts to place Maurice in gainful employment were no more successful than those of her mother with her, 30 years earlier. He soon began the alcoholic binges that would land him in sanitariums on and off for the rest of his life. But Maurice also began to paint, and by his mid-20s those works were beginning to sell.
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At 45, Valadon threw her husband over for an artist younger than her son. André Utter settled into the established ménage of Suzanne, her mother and her alcoholic son. Though never successful as an artist, Utter soon became a business manager of sorts to Valadon and especially to Maurice, whose popular scenes of Paris provided the bulk of the family’s income for the rest of Valadon’s life, though there was a falling-out between mother and son in the mid-1930s, when Maurice finally found a wife who was willing to be a full-time caretaker. Valadon died in 1938, continuing to exhibit till the end.
What this admittedly entertaining book lacks is a sustained and informative discussion of the aesthetic achievement that makes Valadon worthy of consideration as anything but one of the colorful characters who inhabited Montmartre at the turn of the 20th century. Look at the title again: “Renoir’s Dancer,” the name of a famous male artist, followed by an anonymous noun. Valadon still awaits the contemporary biographer who can give her top billing in her own show.
Reagan Upshaw is an art dealer and critic in Beacon, N.Y.
RENOIR’S DANCER
The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon
By Catherine Hewitt
St. Martin’s. 480 pp. $27.99
QUOTE:
enthralling story, told with both conviction and sympathy.
The Mistress of Paris review – glittering story of a superstar courtesan
Catherine Hewitt’s life of the prostitute’s daughter who rose to the highest ranks of French society is a largely enthralling read
Alexander Larman
Sun 22 Nov 2015 10.00 EST Last modified on Wed 21 Mar 2018 20.08 EDT
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Manet’s portrait of Valtesse de la Bigne, aka Louise Delabigne (1879).
Manet’s portrait of Valtesse de la Bigne, aka Louise Delabigne (1879).
Photograph: Alamy
When the Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne died in 1910, at the age of 62, she left behind a grand house filled with paintings, antiques and objets d’art: the trappings of her career as one of the most successful courtesans in France. What she had also managed to conceal were her unprepossessing origins as Louise Delabigne, the illegitimate daughter of a prostitute who grew up in poverty. Thanks to a mixture of beauty and intelligence, she enraptured – and scandalised – French society, counting the likes of Manet and Zola as part of her circle. Catherine Hewitt’s debut biography is a mostly successful attempt at placing Valtesse in the wider context of her turbulent age. It might have done with another edit – the word “glittering” is overused and there is a pervasive sense of material overstretched, especially towards the end – but at its best this is an enthralling story, told with both conviction and sympathy.
The Mistress of Paris is published by Icon Books (£20). Click here to buy it for £16
THE MISTRESS OF PARIS
By Catherine Hewitt
358 pp. Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s, $27.99.
Nancy Klines
If you haven’t read “Nana” — or, even more so, if you have and are hungering for a less censorious, more deeply researched and respectful biography of the 19th-century French courtesan on whom that novel by Zola is partly based — this book is for you. In it, Hewitt conducts us up the ladder from grisette to grande horizontale climbed by the self-styled “Comtesse” Valtesse de la Bigne, born Louise Delabigne, illegitimate and impoverished, in 1848. Hewitt’s occasionally colorless prose is counterbalanced by her social commentary — on, for example, the pay for different levels of mid-19th-century prostitutes and the “embourgeoisement” of French theater in that era — and by her protagonist’s labor-intensive irrepressibility.
A gorgeous, smart, ambitious, hard-working, steely autodidact and businesswoman whose product was herself, Valtesse would be totally at home in our self-branding society. She loved, as 21st-century America does, things: “Louis XIV armchairs in cherry-colored silk, luxurious velvet-upholstered seats from the time of Philippe II,” and of course her “throne,” “that famous bed which cost . . . just over half a million pounds in modern currency.” We are taken on exhaustive tours of her “palaces” in Paris, Ville-d’Avray and Monte Carlo, where she displayed the art she so voraciously collected. She collected men too, and women. Her consumerism, her profession, her politics — Bonapartist, anti-Dreyfusard, devoutly colonialist — and the sheer size of her wealth, make her, alas, a woman for our time.
Nancy Kline
QUOTE:
A skilfully woven tapestry of a fascinating life, this is a hugely interesting and surprisingly involving read
The Mistress of Paris by Catherine Hewitt
The Mistress of Paris by Catherine Hewitt
Bookreviewercentre.jpg
Buy The Mistress of Paris by Catherine Hewitt at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Biography
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Luke Marlowe
Reviewed by Luke Marlowe
Summary: An account of a life that proves to be eye opening, engaging, and surprisingly emotional, The Mistress of Paris is a tale of a woman who tried to make the most of herself in dangerous times, rising through a volatile world of politics, sex and intrigue, and positioning herself as one of the truly influential people of her day.
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 320 Date: November 2015
Publisher: Icon Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1848319264
Share on: Delicious Digg Facebook Reddit Stumbleupon Follow us on Twitter
Born into poverty, no-one could have guessed that the girl who would one day be known as Valtesse de la Bigne would achieve greatness. This is the tale of her rise to wealth and power – starting in a dress shop as a thirteen year old, but fast becoming a courtesan who would be fought over by some of the greatest men of her time. Whilst Valtesse was a woman who kept an air of mystery about many details of her life, Catherine Hewitt nevertheless paints an incredible story around the gaps, and this proves to be both a full and intriguing biography, and a fascinating portrait of the time period.
19th Century Paris was a dangerous place – especially for a young girl born into poverty. But Valtesse de la Bigne was no ordinary girl. Using her intelligence and beauty, she fast rose through the ranks of the gentry, going from dress shop girl to actress, actress to courtesan, and courtesan to a woman who possessed a small fortune, three mansions, countless carriages, and countless suitors. Fawned over by the composer Offenbach, immortalised in Emilie Zola's Nana, and rumoured to have affairs with both Napoleon III and Edward VII – there is no doubt that this is the tale of an extraordinary woman.
You may be thinking that this is the tale of a cold hearted society climber, but it's quite the opposite – this is the story of a woman who loved hard and fiercely, and had her heart broken more than a few times. Whilst there's no doubt that she had to scheme and plan in order to get what she wanted, Valtesse never becomes an unlikeable character – at some points I was very moved by the constant hurdles she faced, and the ingenious ways in which she learned to climb up, over, and sometimes around them. It also illuminates the life of a courtesan far better for me – I'll admit that prior to this, my only experiences with them had been reading a few articles on Madame Du Pompadour, and watching Moulin Rouge a fair few times.
The Mistress of Paris is not just a biography of a fascinating woman, but an in depth look at the France of the 19th century, and of the hugely different levels of society in place, from desperate poverty to lavish wealth. Whilst there are some gaps in the story of Valtesse de la Bigne, the shifting political and social winds that are constantly in the background of her story serve as more than successful diversion until the main strands can be resumed.
A skilfully woven tapestry of a fascinating life, this is a hugely interesting and surprisingly involving read – many thanks to the publishers for the copy. For further reading I would recommend Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France by Stephen Clarke – a rather more lighthearted look at the King who many believe the Valtesse captivated…
QUOTE:
handsome boudoir book.
Book review: The Mistress Of Paris
1
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Review: Liz Ryan
IN 1848, the Year of Revolutions, little Emilie-Louise Delabigne began her life in the worst slum in Paris, the illegitimate daughter of a laundress-turned-prostitute.
Growing up on the streets whilst her mother entertained her clients, she learned her own trade early whilst working first as a poorly paid shop assistant and then as a bar girl in one of the racy new brasserie de femmes that catered to the male taste for pretty young women.
In 1878, a promising young writer named Emile Zola was researching the background to a novel which he wished to set in the Parisian demi-monde.
Delabigne invited him to one of her dinner parties and he repaid her kindness by immortalising her as the stupid and venal Nana.
If Catherine Hewitt’s well-researched and annotated biography has a fault, it is that, like Delabigne herself, she sometimes glosses over the reality of how the self-invented Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne earned her living.
Nevertheless, she has written a handsome boudoir book.
The Mistress Of Paris
Catherine Hewitt
Icon Books, £20;
ebook, £8.79
QUOTE:
fascinating read about a woman who started with nothing but ended with everything, including respect.
Elicia Parkinson
The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret
BY CATHERINE HEWITT
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In 1848, Emilie-Louise Delabigne was born to a single mother who had turned to prostitution to provide for her seven children. As a teenager, Louise became a prostitute herself, starting as a lowly grisette and working her way up the social ladder to become a well-respected and frequently requested courtesan. Using the stage name Valtesse, Louise evolved into a cultured, independent, and self-educated woman, gaining the attention of many popular artists and writers of the time. Manet painted her profile and Zola based his Nana on her—much to her chagrin. Known in most circles for her stunning red hair, Valtesse had the charming ability to have conversations with anyone about any topic. She was rumored to have had affairs with Napoleon III and the future Edward VII. She adored mystery and intrigue, often embracing it in her own life to keep her name in the headlines.
Hewitt does a masterful job of making Valtesse a focal part of the larger Parisian scene in the 19th century: the mean streets, the mansions, the politics. During Valtesse’s rise to and reign as a courtesan, we experience the French Revolution of 1848, the origins of the Second Empire, and the Dreyfus Affair, all events that helped shape Paris through the course of the century. A fascinating read about a woman who started with nothing but ended with everything, including respect.
QUOTE:
Hewitt’s Paris sparkles with life and energy. The rich layering of details along with the eccentric cast of characters reads like a highly engrossing novel.
Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon
BY CATHERINE HEWITT
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In the late 19th century, Suzanne Valadon was a muse and model for some of Paris’ most highly acclaimed artists. She quickly gained a reputation for being an outstanding model, known for her expressiveness, and was a favorite of Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec. What they didn’t realize was she was observing their every move and absorbing what she learned to improve her own art.
The illegitimate daughter of a laundress, Valadon was a self-taught artist. She became a model to support herself, her mother, and her son, the painter Maurice Utrillo. Through her working relationships, friendships, and sometimes romances with artists, she was introduced to Degas. Greatly impressed by her raw talent, he encouraged her to give up modeling and pursue art full time. She would go on to have her work accepted in the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and become known for her unflinching portraits and nudes.
Hewitt’s Paris sparkles with life and energy. The rich layering of details along with the eccentric cast of characters reads like a highly engrossing novel. Suzanne Valadon’s life is so remarkable and her personality so large, she rivals fiction’s most vivacious heroines. Well-researched and highly entertaining.
Janice Derr
QUOTE:
Hewitt tells her story with the colourful immediacy of a Renoir.
Renoir's Dancer review: Catherine Hewitt's story of painter Suzanne Valadon
By Steven Carroll14 December 2017 — 1:08pm
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Renoir's Dancer
Catherine Hewitt
Renoir's Dancer. By Catherine Hewitt.
Renoir's Dancer. By Catherine Hewitt.
Photo: Supplied
Icon, $29.99
Renoir's Dance at Bougival radiates life and movement, the face of the woman captivating. The model was 18-year-old Suzanne Valadon, who had arrived in Montmartre in the early 1880s. When an accident ended her career as an acrobat she decided to be a painter; she was in the right place. But to be a woman painter then required determination and daring, which Valadon had in spades, deciding that the best way to start was from the other side of the canvas – as a model. She posed for some of the greatest artists of the time, many of whom were her lovers or friends, all the time learning her trade and encouraged by the likes of Degas and Lautrec. Her works now hang in some of the most prestigious galleries in the world, and Catherine Hewitt tells her story with the colourful immediacy of a Renoir.
QUOTE:
Her talent was towering, her breakthrough simply inspiring and her life genuinely extraordinary. She was also one of a kind. Valadon loved sex and drink and never denied herself either.
compelling book
18th November 2017
Review: Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon, byCatherine Hewitt
at Schirn Kunsthalle on February 6, 2014 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
at Schirn Kunsthalle on February 6, 2014 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
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Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon
Catherine Hewitt
Icon £25
Review by Hugh MacDonald
THE Café de la Nouvelles Athenes had a rum roster of regulars in the 1870s. Wandering in off the Place Pigalle, one had to squeeze past a table that would regularly have Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissarro discussing art with Emile Zola taking notes for a novel or political tract.
Marie Valadon, a refugee from peasant life in the Limousin, was on the fringes of this almost clichéd Parisian scene. Beautiful, wilful, even reckless, she did not so much decide to live in Montmartre but invaded it. Marie was a force, a muse, a model who became Suzanne Valadon on a matter of whim and forged a life as an outstanding artist from the most unpromising of circumstances.
The scene in the café sums up a major difficulty in Valadon’s life and, indeed, in Hewitt’s book. Valadon is continually defined by her relationship to someone else, usually a man. Thus she is Renoir’s dancer, an allusion to her modelling for Dance at Bourgival, Degas’ student, Lautrec’s lover, Miguel Utrillo’s consort and, most enduringly, mother of Maurice Utrillo, whose fame and success as a painter far outstripped that of Valadon.
Yet she was so much more than an accessory to genius, a bedmate to the greats or a mother to an exceptional son. Her talent was towering, her breakthrough simply inspiring and her life genuinely extraordinary.
Hewitt has a tendency to place her subject in the company of others and to pad out the story with descriptions and digressions that are unnecessary. But when she concentrates exclusively on Valadon and her trials and triumphs this is a compelling book. An illegitimate peasant girl who could have been merely and awfully a victim on 19th century Parisian streets became an artist of genuine power and influence.
With no formal artistic education and primitive tools, Valadon emerged so dramatically as an artist that Degas, on seeing an early work from his one-time model, muttered: “You are one of us.”
She was also one of a kind. Valadon loved sex and drink and never denied herself either. There is a wonderful scene when she is depicted naked sliding down a bannister with childish glee and careless abandon.
She was only 16 when she began life in Paris, not much more than a child when she began posing, regularly in the nude, for older men. Hewitt strongly suggests that Valadon embraced this life but it doled out misery as well as happiness and fulfilment. Affairs with Toulouse Lautrec and Eric Satie ended badly. Marriages came and went.
Valadon, beautiful and clever, found periods of contentment rather than deeply, satisfying happiness. The father of her son remains a mystery. The list of possibilities is long. Utrillo, perhaps out of honour and affection, signed a document stating his acceptance of paternity. Fingers pointed at Renoir, Pierre-Cecile Puvis de Chavannes, an early influence on and financial supporter of Valadon, and Adrien Boissy, an alcoholic artist.
The suggestion that it might be Boissy was accompanied by rumours that the artist had raped Valadon and the pregnancy was the result of that crime. Valadon certainly and subsequently hated Boissy but when pressed on who the father was would only say: “I haven’t decided yet.”
Maurice, her prodigal son, was to prove both a financial boon and an emotional strain for the mother. Alcoholic from an early age, he was incarcerated regularly in jails or asylums. Much in the manner of his mother, he came to painting instinctively, naturally. He was hugely commercial.
His work kept him, his mother and her feckless husband, Andre Utter, in significant, occasionally garish, excess. They were called the Unholy Trinity and their interactions could be violent, tender, life-enhancing and dangerous.
It is in these moments of troubling humanity that Hewitt brings Valadon to life. The mistress and the model is somehow one-dimensional, flimsy. But Valadon as the concerned mother or betrayed wife is an affecting human being whose erstwhile energy and restlessness seems dissipated by the depredations of time.
In all of this, of course, Valadon was an artist. Her work is powerful and individual. She created it in the most unpromising of circumstances. It is at heart a testimony to survival. Her portraits are bold, honest and unforgiving. It is as if she is looking not only her subject but life in the eye without flinching.
An illegitimate girl, an economic refugee from the countryside, a model at 16, a single mother at 18, Valadon summoned her wits and talent to make a life for herself, her mother, her son and a succession of lovers, some wealthy, others predatory and unscrupulous in financial terms. A succession of beautiful prints in Renoir’s Dancer testify to her greatness. Photographs prove both her beauty and, latterly, the effects of a tempestuous life on even the most resilient of personalities.
This was a woman who succeeded in what was almost an exclusively male world. Talent, even genius, was not enough. Valadon had to jostle furiously for her place in the Café de La Nouvelles Athenes or on the walls of galleries or exhibitions.
She was Renoir’s dancer. She was Degas’ pupil. But, wondrously and irrefutabaly, she was Suzanne Valadon.
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QUOTE:
Hewitt here paints a remarkable life.
Hewitt, Catherine. Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon. St. Martin’s. Feb. 2018. 480p. ISBN 9781250157652. $27.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250157645. BIOGRAPHY
If you think you don’t know Suzanne Valadon, you’re wrong; she was the model who figured in beloved paintings by Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Puvis de Chavannes, and others. She was also a painter in her own right, presenting less idealized visions of women than her confreres and becoming the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Author of the well-received The Mistress of Paris, Hewitt here paints a remarkable life.
Barbara Hoffert