Hélène de Beauvoir, younger sister of the famous French feminist Simone de Beauvoir, was a prolific painter and feminist in her own right. Now, an exhibition in London aims to finally give her the recognition she deserves.
She was a painter ‘ahead of her time’, counting Picasso as a fan. But Hélène de Beauvoir was always overshadowed by her famous sister. Now, with a show opening in Britain, the artist is finally receiving her due
She was president of a women’s refuge in Strasbourg and would invite its residents for tea in her garden… and Hélène was there. I started looking at her artworks and was like, ‘Wow, these are beautiful.’” An idle thought occurred to him: “‘I wonder if she’s related to Simone.’ Then the story unfolded – and it blew my mind.”
“Hélène was ahead of her time,” says Claudine Monteil, a close friend of the sisters who has written six books about them and will travel to London to promote the exhibition. “She did paintings of the 1968 student revolution and went on to women’s issues in the 70s, and the defence of nature and the environment. In a lot of her paintings, there are animals and there are women, some of whom have been oppressed. She also did paintings of immigrants – women who lost everything.
In 1975, Simone asked Monteil to represent her at the opening in Strasbourg of the first women’s shelter, of which Hélène was president. “It was my secret dream,” says Monteil, “and it was love at first sight.” The meeting between Monteil and Hélène sparked jealousy in Simone. “And now she pretends that she was feminist before me!” ranted Simone about her sister. “That’s right,” Monteil replied naively.
Her early paintings were also figurative, which wasn’t fashionable at the time. “But every time she did exhibit in Paris,” says Monteil, “she got very nice reviews.” Her works are in the permanent collections of various prestigious museums from the Pompidou in Paris to the Uffizi in Florence.
History Feminism FEMINISM ART HISTORY PARIS WOMEN's RIGHTS
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