Jacqueline Lamba is the feminine symbol of the struggle to be a painter. Lesser known as an artist than her friends Dora Maar, Frida Kahlo or Claude Cahun, she resides in books and catalogs as the second wife of André Breton, the “mermaid” who seduced the poet of “La nuit du Tournesol” (“The Night of the Sunflower”). The “scandalously beautiful” muse described in L’Amour Fou (Mad Love), but also the mother of Aube Breton Élléouët.
Beautiful and independent, she would never cease fighting to have her irrevocable need to paint recognized. Even if that meant “favoring” loneliness and isolation. Her “headstrong” character, direct and frank, though never falling into the venomous trappings of Dora Maar, was challenging, and did not lend her any help. Nevertheless, she was a woman of passion and absolute sincerity.
There is nothing “feminine” about Jacqueline Lamba’s painting. This is where she earned her rightful place, one which is not yet recognized.
In a second marriage, she wed sculptor David Hare, with whom she had a son, Merlin. Though he had given her more space to paint at her convenience, the marriage would not last.
N.B.: Her work suffered from several losses or degradations: the paintings left at 42 rue Fontaine in 1940 have “mysteriously” disappeared; she herself destroyed part of the paintings created in New York in the early 1940s following a remark by Roberto Matta who found them very similar to his own.
- 1910-1914
- 1915-1925
- 1926-1936
- 1937-1947
- 1948-1958
- 1959-1970
- 1971-1993
1910 – 1914
1910
17 november
November: Born on the 17th in Saint-Mandé in the apartment of her maternal grandparents at 3 rue Cart, near the town hall and the Bois de Vincennes: Jacqueline Mathilde is the youngest daughter of Joseph (dit José) Lamba and Jane Pinon. Following the birth of Huguette, their eldest, in 1907, they had truly hoped for a boy. They did not hide their disappointment, dressing her up as a boy and calling her “Jacquot”. The child would play along.
Jane Pinon circa 1910José Lamba circa 1910NOTE on her parents
1911
Summer: On holiday in Royan with the Pinon grandparents.
NOTE on the PINON grandparents
1912
Settling into Cairo with her father, villa el-Katta (5 Midan Isma’iliyya, Ismailia Square, today’s Tahrir Square). In this both barren and luxuriant universe, José would pass on his love of flowers and plants to her. As well as his skill for drawing.
Henriette, the governess, looks after the girls.José Lamba in El-Katta in 1912Jane Pinon (profile) circa 1910Jane Pinon in El-Katta in 19101913
Visits around the Pyramids and the Sphinx, the public garden and the Egyptian museum, inaugurated in 1902.
Summer: In Royan.Jacqueline in 19131914
February: The accidental death of her father on the 27th (he was driving his car to Heliopolis – machines imported into the country only since 1903 and collided with a cart filled with beams). His burial in Cairo saw the presence of Lucy Pinon – Jane’s sister who came to support the grieving family, and of Henri Lamba, José’s brother.
May: The return of Jane, Huguette and Jacqueline to France by boat, accompanied by the governess. They take up residence in Saint-Mandé. Edouard would walk with his granddaughters in the Bois de Vincennes.
Summer: In Royan with her grandparents (like every summer until 1922), before the outbreak of the First World War.
José and Jane Lamba in 1907 in CairoLucy Pinon, Jacqueline and Huguette Lamba, with their grandparents, Edouard and Joséphine Pinon in RoyanGo To 1915-1925
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1915 – 1925
1915
1915-1925
Boarding schools for the young girls in Saint-Mandé, Versailles and Neuilly. The family and schools would provide a solid education for Huguette and Jacqueline.
Huguette and Jacqueline circa 19151915
October: The Lambas attend Lucy Pinon’s nuptials to lawyer Jean Périnard in Saint-Mandé on the 31st, who went on to live their whole lives in Versailles.
The wedding of Lucy Pinon and Jean Périnard in 19151917
December: A student of Miss Marcelle Fargue, an elocution teacher, she performs with her sister Huguette, a comedy in verse by Guillot de Saix, Petits Bateaux (Small Boats), at the Albert 1er theater, at the Parthenon University, an institution for young girls, on rue du Rocher. The “cute” Jacqueline “gallantly took on the role”, as was read in the newspaper.
1918
Boarding school in Neuilly then at Lycée Victor Duruy, after the Lambas move to 7 avenue de Suffren, near the Champs de Mars. An initiation to piano for the young girls, but Jacqueline quickly wished to give up. Jane’s affection and her concern for her daughters encouraged them in their passions. They would meet the Clouzot girls, Marie Rose and Marianne, with whom they would take dance lessons from Renée Odic-Kintzel, a student and rival of Isadora Duncan.
NOTES on Renée ODIC-KINTZEL
NOTES on the CLOUZOT-PINON
1919
Summer: In Royan where the sisters took sailing lessons.
December: Under the direction of Miss Fargue, the two sisters perform in a sketch by Pierre Wolff, Les Deux Enfants (The Two Children), at the Annales (children’s matinée gala), with “candor, emotion and sincerity”.
Huguette and Jacqueline in RoyanNOTE on Royan
1920
Jane regularly took her daughters to the Louvre and to the cinemas. Under pressure from grandmother Pinon, the girls attend catechism before receiving their first communion.
Whereas their grandfather, fiercely anticlerical, balanced this excess of devotion with selected readings: Verne, Kipling, Comtesse de Ségur, La Famille Fenouillard, Le Sapeur Camembert…December: The father of their friends, Henri Clouzot, is appointed curator at the Palais Galliera. A good way to attend countless events for free. The museum would present a vast exhibition of modern decorative art and a retrospective of the sculptor Jean Baffier.
Note
Notes on H. Clouzot
1922
January: The death of Edouard Pinon at 7 avenue de Suffren, his daughter’s home. His widow, originally from Joigny (Yonne) would choose to relocate slightly outside the city. A lovely house with a garden and a beautiful old well. From then on, they would spend their summer holidays there, between walks, swimming in the Yonne, or gudgeon fishing.
Her lively spirit, unruliness and repeated provocations would lead to her being expelled from college and enrolled in a much stricter establishment in Versailles.
May: Visit to an exhibition of lace and embroidery at the Galliera.The house of Joséphine Pinon near Joigny1923
Summer: Holidays in Les Sables d’Olonne with the family.
1924
May-October: Clouzot organizes a major exhibition on L’art dans le cinéma français (Art in French Cinema), a world first, on the entire history and prehistory of cinema, with devices from the 17th century magic lantern to the sophisticated accessories from the 1920s, but also including portraits of directors and actors, staged scenes, scenarios, costumes, posters, studio amenities, etc.
Summer: Holidays in Wimereux (Pas-de-Calais) above Boulogne-sur-Mer.
July: She wins a prize in a decorative panels contest (a volume of Science amusante (Amusing Science)).
August: She wins a compass at a sandcastle competition.
October: Henri Clouzot oversees an art exhibition of equatorial Africa in the foyer of the Studio des Champs Élysées.1925
April-October: The major international exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris: ephemeral pavilions and ostentatious luxury that could have revolted her, but also allowed her to discover the innovative achievements of Ruhlman, Mallet-Stevens, André Groult, Pierre Chareau, Eileen Gray… pavilions, cubist cement trees, luminous fountains, a Lalique glass fountain, the Eiffel Tower radiating the advertisements of André Citroën… Enough to be torn between the tedious profession of an artist and the far broader options in the decorative arts… It was also a useful experience on the absence of any social agenda… A subject close to her heart and that she shared with her cousin André Delons. Thanks to him, she attended PCF (French Communist Party) meetings or participated in political marches from an early age. Throughout her life, she would remain attached and faithful to all the revolutionary movements of the left.
September: In parallel to her studies, she would follow drama courses which had newly been created by René Simon in an educational and humanist climate.Go To 1926-1936
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1926 – 1936
1926
September: Without a doubt, Henri Clouzot helps to convince the young woman to devote herself to decorative art and to enroll in the UCDAD (Central Union of Decorative Arts) on rue Beethoven, joining his daughter Marianne there. It was here she meets Dora Maar, who was simultaneously enrolled in photography school.
She would study drawing, engraving, painting, tapestry but found their teaching overly academic. These three friends would become inseparable and complicit. She becomes her friends’ favorite model for photos or portraits. Marianne introduces her to Cocteau, Cendrars and Rimbaud…October: The Salon du Franc displays paintings by Foujita, Krogh, Vassilieff, Juan Gris, Chirico, Masereel, Pascin, Picasso, etc, as well as sculptures by Zadkine, Chana Orloff, Gargallo.
December: Decorative works with a section reserved for former students of the Ecole Boulle and a retrospective of ceramist Dammouse.
Self-portrait of Jacqueline, circa 1926UCDAD rue Beethoven1927
The long agony of her mother’s suffering from tuberculosis and the depression of Huguette who could not overcome her sorrow. Jacqueline took charge of everything.
Summer: A stay with the Clouzots in Saint-Martin-sur-Avre near Sallanches at the foot of Mont-Blanc (Haute Savoie) where she discovers the high alpine landscapes. She would walk with a sketch book in hand; a phonograph to listen to American records in the evening. Later, a stay with her grandmother in Joigny.
August: The Galliera opens its doors to an exhibition on La Soie, the modern silk industry with its perfect range of colors.December: An art deco exhibition at the Galliera, with furniture by Ruhlmann and Sagnot; ceramics and molten glass by Gunio, Jourdan, Cros; creations by Luce, Sala, Lalique…
Jane Lamba circa 1920Jacqueline in 19261928
January: The death of her mother, Jane, on the 28th at the Buzenval Sanatorium in Rueil. Huguette would go to live with family members in Versaillles or Vezinet. Depressed by this loss, she decides to follow the treatment of René Allendy thanks to their cousin André Delons. Jacqueline, on the other hand, gains her independence and moves to rue de l’Abbaye, a boarding house for young girls, where her friends would often visit. To earn a living, she would pose as a model in the Montparnasse ateliers or decorates the windows of department stores, or even as a taxi-girl. To read – which she does with a frenzy – she would frequent Adrienne Monnier’s lending library (by membership) on rue de l’Odéon. She attends classes in André Lothe’s painting studio alongside Dora Maar and Marianne Clouzot as students at the School of Fine Arts (Student Card No. 2012 in 1928-1929). Dora Maar introduces her to photography.
Summer: The La Toile de Jouy (The Cloth of Jouy) exhibition at the Galliera museum, printed canvases from the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. Followed by the canvases by Dugny, Véra, Lurçat… She then heads to Joigny to her grandmother’s where she would go almost every summer until the war. Is this when she would teach French in England (Cardiff)?
Decorator at the 3 Quartiers, a Parisian store at 20 rue Duphot, later at 23 boulevard de la Madeleine under the artistic direction of Alexey Brodovitch from 1928 to 1930. She participates in a team designing and prototyping for carpets, wallpapers and textiles.
Reading Cendrars, Radiguet, Stevenson, Claudel… She takes an interest to the works of Michelangelo, Picasso, Foujita… She is especially passionate towards Cocteau, offering a copy of his L’Ange Heurtebise (The Angel Heurtebise) to Marianne by post. Including a portrait of the angel which she made herself.December: An Art Deco furniture exhibition at the Galliera, demonstrating a harmonious and comfortable style. While André Delons publishes “Chronique des films perdus” (“Chronicles of Lost Films”) in the brand new journal, Du cinéma; Jacqueline contributes two of her own photographs – images without human beings, mostly landscapes, playing on reflections and shadows, with innovative frames – to illustrate the article by Louis Chavance, “Le décorateur et le métier” (“The decorator and the Craft”).
Eiffel Tower, Barge, Stairs, Train, Sea: Photographs taken by Jacqueline circa 1928-1930
NOTE on ALEXEY BRODOVITCH
1929
May: She participates in a poster competition for school; she is ranked among the top five with a – “very surreal” – prototype boasting the Polynesian islands, Marquesas and Carolines.
May: A magnificent exhibition of modern jewelry at the Galliera transformed into a fire-radiating display.
Summer: She teaches French in Greece but is quickly expelled for socializing with young communist activists.October: The Galliera presents L’Art religieux moderne et contemporain (Modern and Contemporary Religious Art).
December: She lives at 41 rue Tournefort (now a CROUS residence). Her current reading list: Proust, Goethe, Freud, Barrès, Rimbaud, Hölderlin, Aragon, Breton – particularly Nadja and Les Pas perdus (The Last Steps). Thanks to her cousin André Delons, she reads journals Bifur, Varietes and La Revue du cinema. She leaves the School of Fine Arts and earns her living through decoration work or designing for textiles.
Student ID, 1928-19291930
She remains close with her cousin André Delons, a poet and film critic, who had joined Le Grand Jeu for the past two years and is published in their eponymous review. He becomes more involved with politics than metaphysics within the group, which would implode the following year. She benefits from his knowledge and connections.
June: The Galliera halls are invaded by table decor through the ages.December: The new exhibition by Henri Clouzot on Les Dentelles modernes (Modern Laces), presented as “vitraux de fils” (“stained glass threads”).
1931
Dora Maar opens a photography studio with Pierre Kéfer.
June: The Galleria inaugurates L’art pour les enfants (Art for Children), from furniture to toys that honors childhood dreams, with reconstructions of the interiors from the Petites Filles modèles (Good Little Girls) of 1861 (Countess of Ségur).
1932
Close to the PCF, via the AEAR (Association of Revolutionary Writers and Artists), thanks to André Delons who encourages her to read Les Vases communicants (Communicating Vessels) in which she acknowledges similar questions and aspirations. Breton’s thoughts had seduced her even before meeting him.
1933
December: She might have written to André Breton to borrow Les 120 journées de Sodome
(The 120 Days of Sodom) by Marquis de Sade. But who knows if he had answered?1934
Dora Maar relocates to rue d’Astorg; Jacqueline to the Medical Hotel, 26 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques.
April: She is hired as a swimmer or rather an “aquatic ballerina” at the Coliseum, 65 rue de Rochechouart. The “Rosario beach” program is the first atmospheric dance hall with swimming pool and naiads. Photos of the beautiful young naked woman in the pool are taken by Rogi André, André Kertesz’s partner.
May: A meeting with André Breton on the 29th at the Cyrano cafe at Place Blanche. That evening, the Coliseum would hold a gala (the crowning of Paris’ star of the year). Dora would advise her on how to carry herself at the cafe to catch Breton’s eye. Sit in plain sight and write. He notices her and they agree to meet later, spending the night walking in Paris. Breton would describe this walk in L’Amour fou.
June: Breton is in Brussels to give a conference. When he returns, he breaks up with Marcelle Ferry, his dalliance at the time, to make way for Jacqueline, who quickly settles into his home on the 4th floor of 42 rue Fontaine.
August: The couple’s wedding on the 14th, at the town hall of the 9th arrondissement before witnesses, Paul Éluard and Alberto Giacometti. The latter would often lunch with the young couple until his exclusion. Man Ray is the photographer for the event.
December: The young couple, suffering from a cruel lack of finances, is mistreated by the Breton’s parents who were passing through Paris. Jacqueline, for her part, would stop working at the Coliseum, due to a disagreement with the director.
Jacqueline at the Coliseum in 1934 (Photo by Rogi André)André Breton circa 1930 in front of La CoupoleJacqueline in 1934 by Man RayAndré Breton in 1931 by Man Ray1935
March: A three weeks stay with André at the Pouy castle in Jegun (Gers), in the presence of Valentine and Roland Penrose, and Marie-Berthe and Max Ernst. She enjoys her time there and rides horses.
March-April: A trip to Prague with Paul Éluard and painter Josef Sima from the 27th; Breton is invited to give a series of conferences on surrealism. Pleasantly welcomed by their Czech counterparts. Visiting the old towns of Prague and Brno.
April-May: Next, a departure for the Canaries on the 27th, alongside Benjamin Péret; they attend l’Exposition internationale du surréalisme (International Exhibition of Surrealism) at the Ateneo de Santa Cruz de Tenerife organized by Oscar Dominguez which would open on May 11th; visiting the Orotava valley’s Zoological Garden at the foot of the Pico del Teide volcano.
May: Marianne Clouzot’s first solo exhibition at Galerie Charpentier. The impecunious couple is financially aided by Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbe who are annuitants. They would take beautiful photographs of Jacqueline and André during a visit to their home on rue Notre-Dame des Champs, as well as a charming montage, or a superimposed, inverted double portrait.
June: The AEAR organizes the Congrès international des écrivains pour la defense de la culture (International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture) (Mutuality), where Breton is to speak on behalf of the group. However, following the masterful slap that he had given to Iliya Ehrenburg a few days before the congress’ opening, and which had vilified the surrealists, Breton was banned from speaking.
The suicide of Crevel on the 18th, the definitive breakdown between surrealism and communism.Summer: Holidays spent at Lise Deharme’s in Montfort-en-Chalosse, in the Landes with Nusch and Paul Éluard, Dora Maar and Man Ray.
September: A stay in Saint-Jean-des-Bois (Compiègne) with Dora Maar.
December: The birth of Aube Solange on the 20th, under the care of Doctor Pierre Mabille who became a close friend.
From left to right Toyen, Bohuslav Brouk, André Breton, Jacqueline Lamba, Vincenc Makovsky, Vitezslav Nezval, Paul Éluard et Kareil Teige, in Prague, 1935Benjamin Péret, Jacqueline and André Breton,André et Jacqueline Breton. Exposition surréaliste à l’Aténéo de Santa Cruz 1935Jacqueline et André Breton par Claude Cahun 1935Jacqueline et André Breton vers 1935 (Photo par Claude Cahun)1936
March-April: The beginning of the fracture between Breton and Éluard due to political reasons, whom Jacqueline would soon miss, despite the two couples’ holiday in Saint-Jean-aux-Bois, near Compiègne for a few days in an attempt to reconcile. At the Hotel-Restaurant “A la bonne idée”, the two poets would finally part ways in 1938.
Jacqueline’s escapade, leaving alone with their daughter to the provinces. Later, a stay in Joigny with Aube, after a letter of reconciliation.
May: Jacqueline takes part in l’Exposition surréaliste d’objets (Surrealist Objects Exhibition), at the Charles Ratton Gallery (22-29) where all surrealists, whether painters or poets, had previously worked, like Dora Maar, Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbe.
June: A stay in London from the 11th to 20th for l’Exposition internationale du surréalisme (International Exhibition of Surrealism) alongside Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbe who takes photographs of the group, including Roland Penrose, Mesens, Jenning, Sheila Legge…
July: In Lorient with André Breton’s parents (the episode of Fort-Bloqué).
August: Due to the lack of money, Jacqueline ventures alone with Aube to Saint-Jean-aux-Bois, then joining Suzanne Muzard at Canadel-sur-Mer.
September-October: Following a serious disagreement over Aube’s education, she abandons her husband and child for Ajaccio where she would find work. The couple’s financial situation is dire and often the cause of strife, hence the idea of opening and running a gallery, at a time when the art market seemed to be picking up.
November: She gets acquainted with André Masson back in France, after a few years spent in Spain and her return into surrealist circles.
Jacqueline,1935Jacqueline, circa 1940, by André MassonGo To 1937-1947
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1937 – 1947
1937
Walks in Paris with Antonin Artaud whom she finds to be “the most fabulous creator of words”. The man she knows seems to have “aged” after his trip to Mexico, “demolished by drugs”, elated and brandishing his carved cane to obtain a spare change to feed himself.
The death of Raoul Delons, her uncle by marriage.February: The publication of L’Amour fou (Mad Love) in which Breton narrates their first encounter.
March: While Breton takes care of the gallery preparations and looking after Aube, she spends a week skiing in Tignes.
April: Péret arrives from Spain accompanied by Esteban Francès and Remedios Varo, a painter with whom she will develop a bond.
May: The inauguration of Gradiva gallery, at 31 rue de Seine. The works and objects exhibited come mainly from the Breton’s collection and those of a few friends. But neither he nor Jacqueline would have the knack for business or management. Customers were in short supply, except for a few friends or young painters – Paalen, Seligman… – from whom Breton purchased canvases. Breton barely manages to sell some copies of his latest book L’Amour fou to acquaintances. The rare exhibition projects (Brauner, Magritte…) would never see the light of day. In less than a year, it went bankrupt.
June: With Breton, she discovers the Guernica in progress at Picasso’s studio on rue des Grands-Augustins (photographs by Dora Maar)
August: Jacqueline and Aube go on vacation in Cinqueux (Oise) in a house loaned by the Rattons, and where Breton would come to join them for a few days.
October: The surrealist group welcomes Matta and Gordon Onslow-Ford
November: Jacqueline again leaves for Cinqueux, alone with Aube.
1938
January: Exposition internationale du surréalisme (International Exhibition of Surrealism), at the Galerie des Beaux-Arts (one of the chicest spots in Paris at the time) organized by Breton and Éluard with the help of Marcel Duchamp. Success and controversy or controversial success was on the menu, however, none of Jacqueline’s work is exhibited.
February: Gradiva gallery closes and is liquidated a few months after. Formalities handled by Yves Tanguy in their absence.
March: Trajectoire du rêve (Trajectory of dreams) appears at GLM with an illustration by Jacqueline (La Veilleuse) (The Nightlight). She was also the author of one of the surreal postcards (n° 16).
A family stay with the Rattons in Cinqueux, before entrusting Aube to Masson in Lyons-la-Forêt (Normandy), who has two boys of about the same age.April: The departure for Mexico – a mythical country for them since Zapata’s popular revolt and the experience lived by Artaud – where Breton was supposed to lecture. The trip is financed by the cultural affairs, thanks to Mr. Cuttoli. They embark on the Orinoco in Cherbourg on the 2nd. Boycotted even before their arrival, the couple would be welcomed by Diego Rivera on the 18th in Vera Cruz and lodged for four months in the blue house of San Angel.
May: The opportunity to meet Trotsky in exile in Cayoacan. Between political discussions with the Soviet activist and artistic discussions with the Mexican couple, or visits to Inca sites or Indian markets, the voyage would prove to be marvelous. Jacqueline sees her counterpart in Frida Kahlo.
May: The departure of Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbe, determined to leave France – due to the risk of war – and would settle in Jersey.
August: Breton returns to France on the Iberia from Vera Cruz to Boulogne, between the 1st and the 18th. After retrieving Aube from Lyons-la-Forêt, they head to Lorient to be with Breton’s parents.
Fall: Jacqueline and Dora Maar meet Wifredo Lam, newly arrived from Spain at war, in his room at the Hôtel de Suède on quai Saint-Michel, which he had transformed into an atelier.
André Breton, Diego Rivera, Léon Trotsky and Jacqueline, Mexico, 1938Jacqueline and Frida Kahlo, Mexico, 19381939
January: In Paris, she meets Helena Holzer, Lam’s new partner whom he had met in Barcelona a few months earlier. Frida Kahlo’s arrival in Paris for her exhibition organized by Breton.
February-June: She goes to see Antonin Artaud, admitted to Ville Evrard (they would exchange a few letters). Then to her grandmother in Joigny, perhaps for the last time.
Late April-early May: A stay with Aube in Jersey, at the home of Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbe.
June: She attends Lam’s first exhibition in Paris, at the Pierre Loeb Gallery before joining André at the Chemillieu castle, where they are hosted by Gordon Onslow Ford alongside Matta and Pajarito, Yves Tanguy and Kay Sage, Esteban Francès.
July-August: André and Aube head to Lorient to his parents’ home, then to La Baule – joining Mabille and Masson – while Jacqueline reunites with Dora Maar and Picasso in Antibes with Sonia Mossé. They stay in Man Ray’s former studio at the Palais Albert 1er.
September: Breton is drafted on the 2nd. She leaves for Antibes with her daughter and Esteban Francès, to Marie Cuttoli’s (villa Shady Rock), near Picasso and Dora Maar’s. They are still there on October 9th when Picasso and Dora Maar leave for Royan.
October: Jacqueline and Aube join Dora and Picasso in Royan (Hôtel du Tigre) when Breton is stationed to Poitiers. Aube plays with Maya Picasso, the daughter of Marie-Thèrese Walter who sojourns in the same place so that Jacqueline could paint.
Jacqueline and Aube in Jersey, 1939 (Photograph by Claude Cahun)Aube Breton, in Royan, 19391940
February: While in Paris, she sees André Delons for the last time, at the bedside of her dying mother. She is buried in Père-Lachaise.
March-April: Jacqueline and Aube return to Royan. Picasso helps the couple out of a bad financial spell.
May: André Delons disappears “without a trace”, as a liaison officer with the English army in Dunkirk. Jacqueline and Aube are back in Paris where they join André for a few days.
July: At the Salon de Provence with the Mabilles, where she finds Breton discharged and decides to leave the country.
End of August: Near Martigues with Aube, André and the Mabilles, in small fishermen’s huts in front of the sea. Though the surroundings were appealing, the news of Trotsky’s assassination would overwhelm them.
October: In Marseille, at Air-Bel villa where Wifredo Lam and Helena Holzer already were, as well as Varian Fry, from the Emergency Rescue Committee for intellectuals who would help them leave the half-occupied country. Aube is enrolled in the nearest municipal school.
November: Huguette Lamba joins them in Marseille for several months.
December: The arrival of Brauner in Marseille from Le Canet. Breton and other members of the villa, only the men, are arrested during Pétain’s visit to Marseille. Jacqueline is spared because she is a mother.
Jacqueline, André and Aube Breton at Madame Adamo’s, Martigues, 1940The Air Bel Villa, Marseille, 1940Aube, André and Jacqueline in the greenhouse, 1941Max Ernst, Jacqueline Lamba, André Masson, André Breton and Varian Fry, Marseille, 19401941
January: The Bretons attend a performance of La Créole (Operetta by Offenbach) at the Marseille Opera performed by Josephine Baker. The only music appreciable by Breton.
February: Jacqueline obtains her passport while Breton still awaits his. Peggy Guggenheim readily helps to finance their trip. André Masson creates several portraits of the couple.
March: The arrival of Benjamin Péret and Remedios Varo in Marseille.
March-April: The departure from Marseille on March 24th on the Captain Paul-Lemerle with Helena and Wifredo, Victor Serge and his family, Claude Lévi-Strauss etc. bound for Martinique where they would arrive on April 24th, after a challenging month-long journey. Despite an icy reception, they are consigned to the Lazaret camp, opposite Fort de France. They meet Aimé Césaire – then professor and director of the review Tropiques, discovered at random by their wanderings, alongside his wife Suzanne.
May: They leave the island on the 16th with the Lams and Massons on the Presidente Trujillo, with a stopover in Guadeloupe – where they reunite with Pierre Mabille – then to the Dominican Republic for almost a month in Ciudad Trujillo, where they are given an excellent welcome. The Lams would venture to Cuba due to the lack of a visa for the United States, where the Massons had already left for.
July: Their arrival in New York, where Tanguy, Hayter and Kay Sage, who decorated their first apartment (9th West Street) according to Breton’s tastes, are waiting, and who would sponsor their rent for the first six months. Settling into 11th West Street, on the 5th floor in Greenwich Village, they are finally free from fear and deprivation. Peggy Guggenheim would allocate them $ 200 monthly for six months.
Summer: A stay at Pierre and Teeny Matisse’s home with Tanguy and Masson.
September: The death of Henri Clouzot, father of her friend Marianne, which she would only learn about months later.
308- Wifredo Lam, André, Aube and Jacqueline, aboard the Paul Lemerle, 1941312- Jacqueline, Fort de France. Martinique. 1941319- Ylse Jacoby, Jacqueline, André and Aube, Ciudad Trujillo, 19411942
March: Breton is hired to speak at Voice of America (La Voix de l’Amérique).
May: Jacqueline takes part in the collective exhibition organized at the Art of this Century gallery.
June: She meets artist David Hare, photographer, sculptor, and painter around the introduction of the VVV magazine. She serves as a translator between the young man and André Breton. With Calder, she encourages Hare to sculpt. The arrival of Marcel Duchamp in New York.
Summer: She joins David Hare, Matta and Pajarito, Max Ernst and Peggy Guggenheim, and Motherwell in Wellfleet (Mas.), near Cape Cod. This would mark the beginning of their affair.
Fall: Aube is enrolled in the school of the Holy Spirit with Jean-Jacques Lebel and Michel Waldberg. A French and Protestant establishment considered to be the best in New York.
September: They meet Charles Duits who is invited to join them during their soirées with Seligmann, Calas and Matta.
The separation from Breton who cared little for her painting. According to Charles Duits, she lives alone with Aube in the Italian district, under the eaves, in two small but bright rooms, tiled in red and adorned with plants like its balconies. Later, she moves in with David Hare with her daughter to 42 Bleecker Street, in the Italian quarter. As for Breton, he would live on 45 West 56th Street from then onwards.David HareDavid Hare and Jacqueline LambaEXPOSE on DAVID HARE (1917-1992)
1943
January-February: The inauguration of the Exhibition of 31 Women on the 5th, at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery, Art of this Century.
April: She participates in regular “parties” every Wednesday before the summer with the Lebels, the Waldbergs or others with poem readings, surveys, games …
Summer: With Aube and David on Long Island. André would come to see his daughter every weekend, sometimes accompanied by Charles Duits. Isabelle Waldberg and Sonja Sekula are also present.
David gets close to Motherwell and De Kooning, advocates of Action Painting.Fall: The “parties” resume at the Lebel’s in December. Aube enrolls in school with Jean-Jacques Lebel and Michel Waldberg.
December: Breton meets Elisa Claro who would become his last wife.
Jacqueline in Long Island, 19431944
March: She prepares for her solo exhibition at the Norlyst Gallery. In preparation of the catalog’s preface, she declares, “From the onset, women stand no chance in life”. She was referring to, above all, the situation of the female painter. She calls for freedom and love simultaneously.
April: The exhibition’s inauguration where all her friends are present.
May: The Spring show at Peggy Guggenheim’s where she presents her works alongside David Hare and other exhibitors.
Summer: She settles in Roxbury where she has a real studio. A wooden house built by David.
September-November: A stay in Mexico with Aube at the home of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. She entrusts Aube to Frida, joining Gordon Onslow Ford in Michoacan. She would also see Benjamin Péret and Remedios Varo in Mexico City. Prevented from returning to American territory, supposedly for “subversive activities” carried out in 1942, and stuck with Aube in Lerida (Texas), she owes her salvation to Breton and Saint-John Perse.
1945
January-March: Sartre and Beauvoir accompany a group of French journalists invited to the USA. They meet the Massons, the Tanguys, the Calders, David Hare and Jacqueline Lamba. She gets closer to Jeanne Raynal, a friend of Duchamp, a ceramist and collector who had moved to New York.
July: Lam’s passage to New York en route to Paris.
August: Breton in Reno to divorce Jacqueline and marry his new conquest, Elisa Claro.
Jacqueline and Yves Tanguy, in Woodbury, circa 1943Charles Duits or Teddy Ehrenreich , Jacqueline, Dolorès Vanetti, Aube and André Breton, Roxbury, 19451946
Jacqueline and David’s wedding (after their respective divorces) and settling in Roxbury where they are near to the Massons, Calder, Tanguy, Richter, Gorky, Gabo…
May: Aube enrolls in a boarding house in Vermont, The Hickory Ridge School in Putney, where she enjoys herself very much but must, at the request of her father, return to France with him. Jacqueline grants his request, but only for a year. André and Elisa arrive in Paris on the 26th with Aube.
Spring-Fall: Jacqueline and David Hare travel to California, via the American West, between breathtaking landscapes and for her, discovering Navajo Indians, Pueblos, Taos, peoples who respect both life and nature. It would serve as a great lesson. They bring back many objects to decorate their house, bestowing upon it a distinctive, enchanting atmosphere.
August-September: The two artists participate in a joint exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art.
October: She learns of her ex-mother-in-law’s death on the 13th in Lorient.November: This follows with the brutal news of Nusch Éluard’s passing, whom she had not seen in over a decade.
David Hare and Jacqueline, 19431947
Moving to a house at 34 Leroy Street, in Greenwich village.
The couple regularly frequents the Kieslers, Jeanne Raynal and Thomas Sills, the Baziotes, the Tanguys and Nicolas Calas…February: They welcome a visit from Joan Miro and S.W. Hayter.
Summer: Julien Lévy joins them in the Hamptons.
July: They travel to France to attend the inauguration of the International Surrealism Exhibition, “Surrealism in 1947”, organized by André Breton and Marcel Duchamp, at Galerie Maeght.
August: A stay in Ménerbes, at Dora Maar’s home with Huguette, David and Aube. They later visit Avignon, Provence, Côte d´Azur and Lacoste.
October: In Paris to attend her solo exhibition at Galerie Pierre (she presents a few “poetic ex-votos”, large images close to pre-Columbian art).
She learns that she is expecting a second child, for which she is happy, but the pregnancy would prove strenuous.Fall: She returns to New York, with Aube returning to boarding school in Putney (Vermont).
December-January: David exposes his works at Maeght.
Jacqueline, Dora Maar and Huguette Lamba, Ménerbes, 1947 (Photograph by David Hare)Jacqueline at Dora Maar’s, Ménerbes, 1947 (Photograph by David Hare)Go To 1948-1958
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1948 – 1958
1948
March: The death of Antonin Artaud in Ivry-sur-Seine on the 4th.
April: An exhibition dedicated to Jacqueline’s paintings, at the Passedoit Gallery.
May: Helena Lam’s return visit to New York.
June: The birth of Meredith Merlin Hare on the 19th.
June-August: The Lams’ extended stay in New York and Long Island with the Hares, in Springs followed by Roxbury in Connecticut, still with the Hares. They would all travel to Sherman to visit Arshile Gorky a few days before his suicide on July 21st, and shortly before learning of the death of David Hare’s mother.
Jacqueline and Merlin, 1948Merlin and Jacqueline, 19491949
May: Aube returns definitively to France, David no longer wanting the presence of a girl after Merlin’s birth. For his part, André moved up a floor, to have one more room to accommodate her better. He travels to Le Havre to pick her up on the 10th.
Helena Lam moves to New YorkSpring-Summer: Another trip to the American West with David. They visit Indian reserves.
September: Wifredo Lam arrives in New York.
Aube and André Breton, 42 rue Fontaine, 19491951
Jacqueline’s definitive return to France with Merlin.
Summer: Discovering the Gordes (a stay at Charles and Lucy Duits’).
David joins them at the end of the year.December: Jacqueline’s solo exhibition at Henriette Niepce, in Paris.
Gordes house1952
Jacqueline becomes close to Giacometti, whom she welcomes with joy.
November: The death of Paul Éluard who was a friend in the 1930s, on the 18th.
1953
Relocating to Cannes, to 96 boulevard Eugène Gazagnaire, not far from Picasso who lives in Vallauris with Françoise Gilot, whom he met in 1943. She was a woman who also lived for painting and was about to leave the painter.
Summer: Aube comes to join them, as well as Huguette Lamba, Pierre Mabille, Jean Hélion, Henri Michaux, Charles and Lucy Duits, Victor Brauner…
Summer: A stay in Ménerbes at Dora Maar’s.
Huguette Lamba, Jacqueline and Aube BretonJacqueline, Aube Breton and Merlin HareMaya and Pablo Picasso with Jacqueline, during a bullfight circa 1950-1955 (drawing added by Picasso)1954
July-September: She travels to the United States, from Princeton to the American Southwest with Merlin and David, joining Ibram and Ernestine Lassaw and their daughter Denise in Taos. The latter had arrived a few weeks earlier in a car bought from Max Ernst. From there, they would go on different excursions.
July: The death of Frida Kahlo on the 13th in Coyoacan
September: Jacqueline and Merlin return to France accompanied by David
October: The collective show at the new Salon de l’Ecole de Paris, “Unique Salon” created by Raymond Nacenta at Galerie Charpentier, where friends Chagall, Picasso, Françoise Gilot, Ernst, Miro, Masson, Giacometti, etc. rub shoulders.
December: The death of Claude Cahun in Jersey on 8th.
1955
January: The death of Yves Tanguy on the 15th. Alone, David Hare returns to New York.
With Merlin she relocates to 46 rue Gay Lussac (5th floor). The child is enrolled in the same school as the children of Jean Hélion, their neighbor. On Sundays, she takes Merlin and Fabrice Maze to the cinema or to Chevreuse valley. She goes back to school herself to take lessons at the Grande Chaumière.May: She participates in the 11th May Fair, at the Municipal Museum of Modern Art.
From 1955 to 1962, she embarks on a psychoanalysis with Gaston Ferdière (and / or Dr Damoiseau, according to Huguette).Jacqueline, Lucie and Charles Duits, rue Gay-Lussac.Note on Fabrice Maze
1956
May: She takes Huguette to the cinema to see the documentary Le Mystère Picasso, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, cousin of her friend Marianne.
Summer: She introduces Charles Duits to Picasso on the Garoupe beach.
August: Pollock’s accidental death on the 11th.
December: Aube’s marriage to artist Yves Elléouët on the 21st, after which the young couple move to 117 rue de Vaugirard with the family’s help.
1957
The collective exhibition at the Salon d’Automne, at the Grand Palais.
December: The suicide of Oscar Dominguez on the 31st.
1958
January-February: A solo exhibition at the Lucy Krogh gallery.
Go To 1959-1970
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1959 – 1970
1959
April-May: A solo exhibition at Galerie Saint-Placide.
September: The death of Benjamin Péret on the 18th.Affiche 1188
1960
April-May: She participates in the 71st Salon des Indépendants at the Grand Palais.
1961-1962
After discovering the small village in 1960, Jacqueline would spend long summers in Sainte-Agnès, above Menton, in the Maritime Alps. She stays at the Victoria Hotel where she rents two rooms with mountain views (one of which would serve as her studio). Having become too touristic, the village no longer captivates Jacqueline who longed to find a quieter place.
Fabrice and Colette, Huguette and Jacqueline, Émile Maze in Sainte-Agnès, 1960Notes on the Mazes
1961
A signatory of the Manifeste des 121 (Manifesto of the 121) for the right to rebellion in the Algerian War, alongside Breton, Fraenkel, Lanzmann, Leiris, Masson, Sartre, Tzara, Simone Collinet (the first Madame Breton), Yves Elléouët, Jean-Jacques Lebel …
1962
From this year on, Merlin would spend every summer in America with his father. It was also during this time she would finally find her style and her way of expressing herself: landscapes.
1963
January: The suicide of Kay Sage on the 8th in Woodbury.
Thanks to Henri Laugier, she discovers the village of Simiane-la-Rotonde where his father was a teacher, and the 16th century building – which he left at her disposal and where she would spend each summer until 1980. She would travel the site and its surroundings with a sketchbook in her pocket, drawing everything that inspired her paintings that year. She loves the quarries that remind her of the American West landscapes. She also picks up stones everywhere she goes, as Breton liked to do in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie.
She devotes herself to painting and frequents a few of her neighbors: Jean Grenier and her daughter Madeleine, Martine Cazin, a ceramist; she would sometimes join René Char in L’Isle sur Sorgue.Simiane-La Rotonde, August 1971 (Photograph by Henri Cazin)Jacqueline in Simiane, August 1971 (Photograph by Henri Cazin)Jacqueline in Simiane, August 1971 (Photograph by Henri Cazin)Simiane, August 1971 (photograph by Henri Cazin)1964
She moves to 8 Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, facing the Porte Saint-Martin. A place offered by David Hare from the moment his son went to live and study in the United States. The balconies are decorated with “ivy, wild daisies, dwarf roses, succulents, thyme, bay leaves, parsley, basil” (FM). A mattress on the floor, stones for decoration, and books dear to her reflection. A drawing table, an Indian style fireplace. She receives few visits and only from selected friends. She is surrounded by candles.
Jacqueline, boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, the 1970s.Exposé on this period
1965-1973
She takes part in anti-Vietnam war protests organized by the Mouvement contre l’Armement atomique (MCAA) (Movement Against Atomic Armament) created in 1963 at the initiative of journalist Claude Bourdet and biologist Jean Rostand, alongside Bernard and Alexandra Rouzet, Michel Dubenat…
Jacqueline, the 1980s1966
January: Alberto Giacometti’s death on the 11th, which did not leave her without effect.
She protests against the installation of nuclear missiles on the Albion plateau (Vaucluse). On this occasion, Picasso creates the poster, La Provence point Oméga.September: The death of André Breton at Lariboisière Hospital on the 28th. He would be buried at the Batignolles cemetery.
Aube and Yves Elléouët relocate to Saché, near the Calders.1967
She becomes acquainted with Marguerite Bonnet, an expert in literature, soon to be a professor at the University of Tours, a political activist, a friend of Natalia Trotski who entrusted her with the literary rights of her husband’s works, and who, at the same time, researched Breton – whom she had long frequented – and surrealism.
August-October: Her final solo exhibition in Antibes, at the Picasso museum (then Château Grimaldi), with around fifty works. She is close to Yves Bonnefoy – who wrote the preface to her catalog – and his wife Lucy Vines, a painter.
1968
She takes interest in the May student movements, in which she participates. She discovers the small village of Bures-sur-Yvette (Essonne), at the gates of the Chevreuse valley. The perfect place for walks between hilly woodlands, steep valleys and numerous rivers. The subject of water would dominate her works for a while. She gets close to Fabrice Maze, a childhood friend of Merlin who went to study in the US, and who comes to interview and record her for his end-of-year exposé. She lends herself to the cause gracefully. She would later encourage him to find his own path. For his part, Merlin wishes to become a sculptor. Discouraged by his father, he would instead become an airplane pilot.
October: The death of Marcel Duchamp in Neuilly on the 2nd.
1969-1970
June to October: At Simiane, little by little, she transforms the house, repainting its walls and floors, decorating it with green plants and decorative items to her liking. Creating a world of her own in which she holds its secrets. She adds the stones that she gathered during her walks. Aube often comes to visit, and Fabrice spends a few summers with her.
Jacqueline and Merlin in Simiane, August 1971Go To 1971-1993
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1971 – 1993
1971
Adopted by Aube and Yves Élléouët, nine-month-old Oona arrives from Korea, to the great joy of Jacqueline who would enjoy her role as the “good” unworthy grandmother.
1972
February: The suicide of Suzanne Malherbe, Cahun’s partner, in Jersey on the 19th.
1972-1980
Protests against the Larzac military camp extension, after the farmers’ expropriation.
1973
January: The death of Henri Laugier on the 19th in Antibes.
April: The death of her friend and “mentor” Picasso on the 8th in Mougins.
May: The death of Marie Cuttoli, on the 23rd, Laugier’s great love in the same city. One of Jacqueline’s benefactors.
July: A trip to Toledo with Huguette and the young painter Jacques Bibonne.
August: Her first meeting with New Yorker art historian Mary Ann Caws in Simiane, to discuss Breton, Artaud and surrealism.
1975
April: She worries about her son-in-law’s morale on the 10th while staying in Haute Provence. Yves Elléouët dies at the age of forty-three on the 27th. He is buried in Saché.
1976
April: The death of Max Ernst in Paris on the 1st. A strange “irreverent reverence”.
August: The death of Yvonne Clouzot, mother of her friend Marianne, on the 10th in Locronan.
September: The death of Esteban Francès in Deia (Spain) on the 21st.
November: Alexander Calder dies in New York on the 11th; then Man Ray in Paris on the 18th.
1978
Aube meets Jean-Claude Georges, nicknamed Coco, a television technician.
1979
January: She welcomes Mary Ann Caws to her Parisian home.
Summer: Her last stay in Simiane.
1980-1982
July-September: Extended stays during the summer in San Diego with Merlin and his wife Debra. They travel through Arizona and New Mexico together. Merlin, who would sometimes take part in missions for National Geographic, is building a new, light passenger biplane prototype.
1982
September: The death of Wifredo Lam in Paris on the 11th.
1984
A stay in Switzerland joining Merlin who is presenting his prototype. She also meets David Hare there. This would be their last meeting.
She spends her time touching up her paintings which, according to her, are unfinished.Jacqueline, boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, the 1980s (photographs by Merlin Hare)Jacqueline, boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, the 1980s (photographs by Merlin Hare)1987
October: The death of André Masson in Paris on the 28th.
December: She returns to the Louvre to see paintings by Poussin, but the only one she really likes at that time is Le Printemps, also called Le Paradis Terrestre (The Earthly Paradise).
1988
Following a small attack, she can no longer live alone at home. She had first accepted Merlin’s invitation, who was ready to welcome her to his home in the United States. At the last minute, however, she demanded to stay in France. Aube finds her a retirement home in Rochecorbon, near Saché where she would visit her regularly with Oona.
September: She settles into the Château de la Taisserie, in the middle of a large park decorated with large trees, where she can continue to draw.
1989
She suffers from the onset of Alzheimer’s.
1990
She loses the ability to read and write. Shortly after, she is diagnosed with lung cancer.
1992
December: The death of David Hare in Jackson (Wyoming) on the 21st.
1993
July: Jacqueline’s death on the 20th in Rochecorbon. She is buried in Saché on the 23rd.
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