Women at the Académie Julian in ParisAuthor(s): Catherine FehrerSource: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 136, No. 1100 (Nov., 1994), pp. 752-757Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/886272Accessed: 24/11/2008 09:19

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CATHERINE FEHRER

Women at the Acadmie Julian in Paris

IN 1893 an article on the AcademieJulian in Paris appeared in the London journal, The Sketch.' Based on an interview with Rodolphe Julian himself, it dealt mainly with the women's ateliers, their history andJulian's reasons for creat- ing them. By that time, the women's studios were attracting large numbers of students from all over the world, and suffi- cient documentation, much of it unpublished, survives to show thatJulian considered them to be an essential part of his Academie Julian, which had been the first professional art school to admit women on an equal basis with men.2

Julian (Fig.20) had come to Paris as a young man from his native village of La Palud in the Vaucluse in order to become an artist. Having few resources, he never enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but was trained in the traditional manner by Cabanel and Cogniet, both of whom also taught at the Ecole. As a promising young painter he exhibited first at the Salon des Refuses in 1863, and from 1865 to 1878 at the official Salon. The hardships of his student days gave Julian a sympathetic understanding of the problems and atti- tudes of students, especially those seeking change. His expe- riences of an art world dominated by the Ecole and the Salon led him in 1868 to found an academy, initially with the purpose of preparing students for entry to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. It soon became recognised as a rival to the lat- ter, earning the sobriquet of 'Ecole des Beaux-Arts de la Rive Droite', though its liberal enrolment policies were far removed from those of the official institution and it received no subsidy of any sort.

To keep his expenses low,Julian rented ateliers which he could open and close as demand dictated, but he became sufficiently prosperous to be able to award prizes and to reduce fees for talented but indigent pupils. As the enterprise flourished, Julian withdrew from his personal career as an artist, devoting himself to the Academie, formulating its poli- cies and serving as director up to his death in 1907.3 His staff included a number of the professors at the Ecole des Beaux- Arts, and his students received comparable training and encouragement if they showed talent. By including many foreign as well as French students, women as well as men, his Acad6mie acquired an international and universal status that explains much of its appeal, and ultimately its world- wide reputation.

Before Julian founded his academy there had been only two alternatives for art students in Paris: to study with a cel- ebrated master such as Courbet or Gleyre, or to enter the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, to which only men were admitted, after a highly competitive entrance examination. In his interview with the Sketch, Julian pointed out that women 'were given none of the opportunities which each male artist

'Julian's Studios. An Interview with their Creator', The Sketch June 1893], pp.473-74. It was reprinted in the English edition of a booklet entitled Academie Julian which was probably intended for publicity and contains the names of prize- winning students as well as articles on the Academie. Only one, privately owned, copy is known to me. "It is hoped that these privately owned records, including an index of female stu-

752

20. RodolpheJulian. Photograph. Reproduced from The Sketch, June 1893], p.473

claims as his right' and that 'few artists care to have the responsibility of taking ladies into their ateliers'. It was not surprising, he felt, that, with one or two exceptions, women had made no great name in art and that 'most women who have become famous in French art belonged directly to an artistic family'.4

When the academy was founded in 1868, Julian did not exclude women from its ateliers, and a few years later he set up studios exclusively for them (Figs.21, 23 and 24). The presence of women in the ateliers is recorded as early as 1873, when George Moore entered the Academie and found eight or nine English girls in his class, and Albert Rhodes's account of an evening class in Julian's studio at the Passage des Panoramas published that same year mentions that 'six or seven women were present, two of whom were

dents of the Academie, will soon be available to the public. 'For further details onJulian's life, see c. FEHRER: 'RodolpheJulian', in The Julian Academy, Paris 1868-1939, exh. cat., Shepherd Gallery, New York [1989], pp.6-20. 'Sketch, loc.cit. at note 1 above. His analysis is similar to that in L. NOCHLIN: 'Why have there been no great Women Artists', Art Jews [January 1971], especially pp.29-39.

WOMEN AT THE ACADEMIE JULIAN

21. The women's anatomical studio of the Academie Julian (5 rue de Berri). Photograph. Reproduced from he Sketch, June 1893], p.474.

American'.5 Women are included among the students shown inJulian's own painting Une Academie de peinture, representing the Academie Julian, which he exhibited in the Salon of 1876. Separate studios for women were established a few

years later: asJulian explained to the Sketch journalist, he did 'admit a few ladies, foreigners, into his men's studios during the early years', but added: 'It was extremely awkward and

disagreeable and I soon saw that if I were to hope to get my own countrywomen to work with me, I should have to make different arrangements.'6 Some male students appear to have considered mixed ateliers an impropriety,7 but in creat-

ing special studios for women Julian seems to have

responded more to the needs of bourgeois families who felt that the study of art was essential for the education of their

daughters but were fearful of mixed classes. The women's ateliers were evidently established by 1876/77, to judge from the account of Marie Bashkirtseff (1858-84) whose

posthumously published Journal is a useful source for the Acad6mie's early years and also perhaps helped establish

Julian's reputation. Bashkirtseff wrote that she entered

Julian's Academie in 1877 because at that time it provided the only serious training for women in Paris.8 She could if she wished have chosen to work with the men, but elected to enter the women's atelier not only because the men smoked

but, more significantly, because she felt that there was no essential difference between the classes, since the women also drew from the male nude.9 By 1879, it would appear

'G. MOORE: Confessions of a Young Man, London [1904], p.22; and A. RHODES: 'Views abroad. A Day with the French Painters', Galaxy, XVI [July 1873], p.13. "When the index of female students at the Academie becomes available, it should

help identify who studied in these early mixed classes. 7See RHODES, loc.cit. at note 5 above, p. 13, and, for a discussion of Rhodes's article, J.A. WEIN: 'The Parisian training of American Women Artists', Women's Art Journal, II [1986], p.42. 8M. BASHKIRTSEFF: Journal de Marie Bashkirtseff, Paris [1980], p.314. Julian told the

from the evidence of May Alcott Nieriker, the men's ateliers no longer accepted women.l1

Julian stressed to the Sketch journalist that the work in the women's ateliers was not only equal, but 'considerably more serious than in his studios for men', adding: 'Of course, at first, many of the most earnest lady students were much dis-

gusted at being shunted into what they considered an ama- teur studio, and one young lady, an American, implored me with tears to allow her to continue with her former com- rades; indeed she absolutely refused to associate in any way or join my new atelier. Every month for two years she came and paid me a formal visit, but I had to be inexorable, for no favouritism should be shown, and she finally departed to the land of the Stars and Stripes, firmly convinced that I had barred her way to ultimate fame and glory.' The serious nature of his female programmes does seem also to have had the larger purpose of preparing women to compete profes- sionally with men. Remarking on the projected admission of women to Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Julian told the Sketch jour- nalist: 'It will immediately benefit those girls who have artis- tic faculties and who wish to learn one of the many trades in which some knowledge of drawing and colour have hitherto made all the difference between the skilled workman and his unskilled sister.'

From the beginning, the operation of the Academie was not confined simply to work in the classroom, but was

geared towards launching students on an independent

Sketch journalist that 'had she lived, she might have gone far, very far ... There was

about her an influence that no one could resist' (loc.cit. at note 1 above). The Journal dates her entrance to the Academy as October 1877, but the unpublished index of women students cited at note 2 above, gives 1876 as the year she began to study there. 'For an account of the controversy surrounding women studying from the nude, see

T. GARB: Sisters of the Brush, New Haven and London [1994], pp.81ff. 'M.A. NIERIKER: Studying Art Abroad and how to do it cheaply, Boston [1879], p.46.

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WOMEN AT THE ACADEMIE JULIAN

22. Self-portrait, by Ellen Day Hale. 1885. 72.4 by 98.4 cm. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

career. An elaborate system of concours involving both the men's and women's ateliers prepared students for the chal-

lenges they would face, both to exhibit their works in the Salons and to compete in the professional world.' Once a month all the students competed together and the examin-

ing professors were not told the name or the sex of the

competitors till the results were declared. Julian himself remarked that it was astonishing 'how often women have the best of it in these trials. Especially is this true of portraiture which is generally supposed to be a man's speciality'; and, when questioned about the ability of the female students, he

replied that they were 'as much a credit to him as the men who studied in the ateliersJulian'.'2

Exhibitions of work, and prizes awarded by the Aca- demie's professors, prepared the students for the experience of exhibiting in the Salon. The professors were chosen not

only for their ability to teach, but also for the influence they might be able to exert on their students' behalf. Julian him- self was notorious for his efforts to assure that his students' work would be shown in the Salon, becoming known as the 'Warwick of the Paris juries'; by 1890, as an American stu- dent noted, 'a certain amount of space' there was allotted to the Academie Julian."3 That this was not altogether a positive development is suggested by the remarks of another student, Alice Kellogg, who complained after one of her sketches had been selected for the Salon: 'Our enthusiasm for the Salon is decidedly dashed by the undeniable fact- hardly concealed at all - of the all-powerful potency of "influence" and wirepulling. We all feel that going in as

"For the concours, see R. NOBILI: 'The AcademieJulian', Cosmopolitan, VII [1889]. 'Loc.cit. at note 1 above. "Loc.cit. at note 1 above, p.473; and for the student's remarks, see c. WARTON:Jeunes- Miller Magazine [July 1890], p.398. 'See A. BLAUGRUND (with J. BRODIE): 'Alice D. Kellogg, Letters from Paris 1887-89,

754

pupils of Julian did more than half toward gaining our admission.' 14

Julian's Academie owed much of its reputation to the illus- trious professors who taught there. Marie Bashkirtseff appre- ciated the advice and attention she received from Tony Robert-Fleury, with whom Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942) also studied, while Alice Kellogg wished to study only with

Boulanger and left the academy after his death in 1888."1 Other students found it useful to work with several instruc- tors, the professors tending to teach only the general prin- ciples of the art and encouraging their pupils to develop an individual approach - although Elizabeth Gardner

(1837-1922), many of whose paintings were almost indistin-

guishable from those of her future husband, William

Bouguereau, evidently chose not to. When Julian himself visited his ateliers he sometimes offered general advice or commented on a student's work, but otherwise he made it clear that it was his professors who were there to teach and to offer criticism.

Although the programme of studies in the women's stu- dios was entirely similar to that in the men's, some women

complained that they received only half the criticism pro- vided for the male counterparts in this highly segregated system. Both male and female classes were equally over- crowded, and Charlotte Warton complained in 1890:

'Surely, ifJulian knew how uncomfortable we are, he would

provide better accommodations.' 6 The women were, how- ever, furnished with the services of a bonne who ran errands for them. As in the men's studios the work was almost

Archives of American Art Journal, XXVIII [1988], p. 12. For the protests this influence attracted, see also FEHRER, loc.cit. at note 3 above, p. 15.

5BLAUGRUND, loc.cit. at note 4 above, p.8. '"WARTON, loc.cit. at note 13 above.

WOMEN AT THE ACADEMIE JULIAN

23. M. Bouguereau's studio at the Academie

Julian (5 rue de Berri). Photograph. Reproduced from The Sketch, [June 1893], p.473.

entirely technical, with long sessions of life classes, though according to a visitor to the women's studio in the Passage des Panoramas in 1885 there was 'a course of lectures on

anatomy and perspective given by an assistant of Mathias Duval, Lecturer at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts' and there also

appear to have been 'dissections on dead bodies performed in the students' presence'.7 The admission policy for both men and women was extremely liberal but, though Julian's fees were generally considered to be moderate, those for women after the creation of separate ateliers were double those for men, probably because of the extra expense of

providing segregated studios.'8 Despite the resulting mixed

group of students, standards remained high and competition was keen. As one American student remarked: 'We had to work hard. If a pupil had little talent... no notice was taken of her, everything was done to discourage her . . . There would come a day when she would not be in her accustomed

place. No one knew what happened, but whatever it was, it was kindly done and effective'.'9 Those who showed talent were encouraged, and received valuable advice and criti- cism.

The first women's atelier was located on the second floor at 27 Galerie Montmartre in the Passage des Panoramas. Anna Klumpke (1886-1942), later a successful painter and the companion and biographer of Rosa Bonheur, described it as 'located near one of the principal boulevards and

approached by a flight of steps leading up to the first land-

ing. A small door opened into a moderate sized room with a

skylight, a stove in the center, an evident lack of ventilation and a platform on which sat a draped model.'2" At this time

7See E. BELLET: 'Julian's Studios. Painting Schools where Women learn to become

Artists', Brooklyn Daily Eagle [30th July 1888]. For further details on instruction at the Academie, see c. FEHRER: 'New Light on the Julian Academy and its Founder, RodolpheJulian', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, XX [1984], pp.209-210, and B. WEINBERG:

'The Julian Academy' in The Lure of Paris, New York [1991], pp.222ff. "'Higher fees for women were in fact customary.

Tony Robert-Fleury was director of the class, and Pierre Cot was also associated with it.

As the number of students increased, a second studio for women was opened in the nearby rue Vivienne, which was described in an article of 1895 byJ. Sutherland:

The studios whichJulian established for men were already a famous success before he opened one for women, and when that in turn became full to overflowing, the new- comers were relegated to a deserted atelier in the nearest street. We, the overflow, were fifty or sixty women and

girls - English, Scotch, Irish, Americans, Canadians, Greeks, Italians and Spaniards and one modest, hard-

working little Finlander. Four weary flights of stairs led to the atelier, a huge brick-floored room whose one light from the sky-window filtered down upon the model's head as through the bung-hole of a hogshead . .. Our rivals in the sister studio of the Passage des Panoramas said to us: 'Your light is good discipline for you.' But they secretly thanked their stars that they were not under it.2'

The atelier in the rue Vivienne was later closed, perhaps after the main studio for men was moved to the rue

Faubourg St Denis, leaving all the accommodation in the

Passage des Panoramas for women's studios; it eventually became the site of Jean-Paul Laurens's popular women's classes which continued up to the beginning of the First World War (Fig.24). Julian added yet another studio for women in 1888 in a more fashionable part of town, at 28 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honor6, and it is a mark of his success in the beau-monde that the list of students includes many aristo-

"'These remarks byJulia Sully are quoted in M.L. BAYLESS: 'Adele Williams and the Richmond Art Scene', Virginia Cavalcade [Spring 1992], p. 171. 2"A.E. KLUMPKE: Memoirs of an Artist, ed. L. WHI1ING, Boston [1940], p.52. 2'j. SUTHERLAND: 'An Art Student's Year in Paris. Women's Classes at Julian's School', The Art Amateur January 1895], p.72.

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WOMEN AT THE ACADEMIE JULIAN

24. M. Jean-Paul Laurens de l'Institut et quelques-unes de ses eleves-dames, (27 Galerie Montmartre, Passage de Panoramas), Photograph. Title-page of L'Academie Julian, [December 1912]. (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris).

cratic names. This appears to have been a temporary loca- tion, however, and a more permanent atelier soon opened at 5 rue de Berri, just off the Champs Elysees, with four hun- dred square metres of space, enough for four good-sized stu- dios (Figs.21 and 23). In addition to classes for drawing and painting, there was room for sculpture classes, and later for water-colour and miniature painting. Bouguereau taught here, and Chapu taught sculpture, followed by Verlet and Landowski. It was at rue de Berri that Cecilia Beaux began her studies in 1888 but, finding little competition to spur her, she later transferred to the old studios in the Passage des Panoramas, which she found 'less dilettante although not much more talent was evident'.22 Around 1890 a further women's studio was opened in Montmartre at 28 rue Fontaine and there was, apparently, yet another adjacent to the men's atelier at 5 rue Fromentin. Jules Lefebvre and Tony Robert-Fleury were in charge of both these studios. AfterJulian transferred his main studio for men to the Left Bank at 31 rue du Dragon in 1890, he opened a women's atelier nearby at 55 rue du Cherche-Midi; this latter occu- pied an entire building with space for classes in drawing, painting, sculpture and miniature.

The office from whichJulian supervised his scattered stu- dios during the early years was located next to the women's ateliers in the Passage des Panoramas, thus allowing close supervision of their activities. The Sketch journalist described it as follows:

The walls are covered with clever studies by some of the greatest names in the French art world, among them por- traits of his favourite pupils, done either by themselves or by one of their fellow students, notably a quaint and remarkable little study of Marie Bashkirtseff. Here ... he can generally be found in the morning, although he makes it his business to visit his many other studios very frequently and is always present at the bi-weekly visit of

2C. BEAUX: Background with Figures, Boston [1930], p. 172. 2:1See the list published in The Art Student in Paris, Boston [1887]; and also FEHRER,

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the various professors.

After opening the ateliers on the Left bank,Julian established a new office for himself at 31 rue du Dragon from where he could more easily supervise the activities there and consult with the professors.

After Julian's death in 1907, his widow Amelie Beaury- Saurel maintained the women's studios, directing first one, then all of them, but the operation of all the ateliers was inevitably reduced during the First World War. The studio at 5 rue de Berri continued to accept women students until the Julian family ceased to direct the Academie in 1939. During the last years a few women were apparently also permitted to enrol in the men's ateliers and after the enterprise was sold in 1946 mixed classes became the rule.

The AcademieJulian did not lack competition for women students in Paris. The most direct challenge came from the Academie Colarossi which followed the same pattern as Julian's, with well-known professors such as Colin, Courtois and Dagnan-Bouveret and a flexible schedule, but was open to both men and women at lower fees. Other popular ate- liers for women were those run by well-known painters such as Carolus-Duran and Edouard Krug.23 Women often stud- ied at several of these Academies or entered one to continue later at another. In this way students were able to compare the offerings of several schools and choose what they wished from each. In the face of this competition, Julian's continual

expansion of his ateliers for women is an indication of his success.

Until the list of pupils enrolled at the Academie becomes available it is possible only to give a preliminary report of the women who studied there, most of them French but with others from all parts of Europe, especially England, and from America. Among the most famous of the early intake of women was the American, Elizabeth Gardner, who was there from 1872 to 1876, and achieved wide recognition for

loc.cit. at note 3 above, and WEINBERG loC.Cit. at note 17 above.

WOMEN AT THE ACADEMIE JULIAN

her paintings both in her native country and abroad, inde-

pendently of her husband, William Bouguereau, whom she married in 1896.24 Marie Louise Catherine Breslau

(1856-1927) of Zurich, who studied withJulian from 1875, received gold medals in the Expositions Universelles in 1900 and 1901, and became a Chevalier of the Legion d'Hon- neur. Sophie Schappi (1852-1921), also of Zurich, entered the academy in the same year and enjoyed a successful career as painter and illustrator, while Anna Nordgren (1847-1916) from Sweden who enrolled in 1874 became a

respected portrait and genre painter. Among the early French students were Mme Real Del Sarte (d.1928), who later taught at the Academie, Marie Del Sarte (b. 1848) who entered in 1874, andJenny Zillhardt, who arrived in 1875. Victorine Meurent, who had been the model for Manet's

Olympia and Dejeuner sur l'herbe, studied in evening classes at the Academie, and exhibited work in the Salon the following year.25 The best known of the French students, however, was Amelie Beaury-Saurel, who began her studies in the Acad- emie in 1874 and served as massiere of the women's atelier when Marie Bashkirtseff was a student. (The massiere was a student, chosen to be in charge of the class, who posed the model and collected a fee - the masse.) This was the begin- ning of a long association with the Academie, cemented in 1895 when she married RodolpheJulian. During their mar- ried life she achieved considerable success as a portrait painter while continuing to take an active part in the admin- istration of the women's ateliers, and it was she to whom

Julian bequeathed the Academie on his death in 1907. From then, until her death in 1924, she served as nominal director with the help of her nephews, Jacques and Gilbert Dupuis, continuing her career as a portraitist and remaining close to the women's ateliers.26

The American students greatly appreciated their time at the Academie Julian. Rosina Emmet (1854-1948) wrote home in March 1885 that she 'could never be sufficiently thankful for this winter's work',27 and the Bostonian Ellen

Day Hale (1885-1940) 'returned to America an artist in her own right' after studying at the Academie between 1882 and 1885.28 Her penetrating self-portrait in black with a shadowy

Japanese background (Fig.22) was painted while she was there. Willie Betty Newman (b.1864) of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, who studied atJulian's from 1890 to 1896, exhib- ited at the Salon for many years and was a successful portrait painter after her return home, as were Anna Klumpke of San Francisco, Cecilia Beaux of Philadelphia and Adele Williams (b. 1868) of Richmond, Virginia. Of a later genera- tion, Lois Mailou Jones (b.1905) had a scholarship in 1937-38 at the Academie, where she was able to explore the masks of her African heritage (Fig.25) and was encouraged by Adler Berges and Montezin to exhibit at the Salon.

Mailou Jones's tribute, made in 1993, that 'The place I now hold in the mainstream of American painting is due to

my experience at L'Acad6mie Julian',29 echoes that of many earlier women artists who recognisedJulian's contributions

2See M. FIDELL-BEAUFORT: 'Elizabeth Jan Gardner Bouguereau. A Parisian Artist from New Hampshire', Archives of American ArtJournal, XXIV [1984], pp.2-9. "See E. LIPTON: Alias Olympia, New York [1992]. "'See FEHRER, loC.Cit. at note 3 above, pp.16-20. 27See M. HOPPIN: The Emmets. A Family of Women Painters, exh.cat., Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA and Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield [1982], p. 17. Rosina Emmet (Sherwood)'s sister Lydia (1866-1952) also studied at the Acad6mie, as did Elizabeth Boott (Duveneck; 1846-88).

25. Lesfetiches, by Lois MailouJones. 1938. Oil on linen, 64.8 by 53.3 cm. (National Museum of American Art, Washington).

to their cause. Rosa Bonheur, as quoted in the biography of her by her companion, Anna Klumpke, remarked that 'M.

Julian understands that by determination and perseverance, a woman can very well equal a man in the sciences and the arts',30 while a former student, Gabrielle Reval, went so far as to maintain that 'Julian was a revolutionary in art educa- tion. He should be honoured as a father of the feminist movement'.31

When it was founded the Academie Julian represented a

challenge to the art establishment of its time, especially in that authority was shifted from the professors to the students, both men and women, who were free to leave or to stay as

long as they wished. The students not only gained technical skills, but also the courage to develop individual styles, and

by 1887 the Academie was described as modernist, even

impressionist in its bent.32 By then many of its students, including women, were exhibiting in Paris and had em- barked on careers as artists; their success served to under- mine the prestige of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which had lost much of its exclusive power by the time it finally admit- ted women in 1897. Indeed, the many well-trained students from the Academie Julian helped prepare the way for the artistic diversity of the twentieth century, in which women artists came to be major players.

2"See A. CHEESEBRO in Ellen Day Hale, exh.cat., Richard York Gallery, New York

[1981]. 2'Letter to the author, 7thJanuary 1993. 30A. KLUMPKE: Rosa Bonheur. Sa Vie et son Ouvre, Paris [1908], p.66. 31G. REVAL: 'L'Avenir de nos Filles', Echo de Paris [25th October 1903]. 2'Etincelle. Les Ateliers d'Amateurs', Figaro [10thJanuary 1887].

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