Women artists at the Jean-Jacques Henner Museum

With the exhibition Elles, Les élèves de Jean-Jacques Henner, the Musée Jean-Jacques Henner spotlights ten women artists trained by the painter, revealing their often little-known careers and their fight for art in an era marked by inequality.

In the 19th century, women’s access to art schools such as the Beaux-Arts was forbidden until 1897, not least because of absurd conventions concerning the nudity of male models. To circumvent these prohibitions, private studios sprang up, such as Jean-Jacques Henner’s, first on Boulevard du Montparnasse, then on Quai Voltaire. This became a place of learning for these women, enabling them to acquire the necessary artistic foundations despite social obstacles.

An exhibition of a forgotten universe

The exhibition reveals a rich universe, with works, letters and diaries recounting the daily lives of these students. Curator Maëva Abillard underlines the difficulty of this retrospective: many works by female artists are kept in reserve and poorly documented. However, these archives offer a captivating insight into the aspirations of these women from diverse social backgrounds, united by their desire to become artists.

Between religion and portraiture: Henner’s legacy

Pupils’ themes, such as religious figures and “fantasy heads”, reflect their master’s influence. Prevented from working with nude models, they specialized in portraiture, a genre often devalued but which opened the doors to high society. Through this practice, they forged mutual support networks, documented in notebooks such as that of Marie Cayron Vasselon.

Until April 28, 2025, at 43 avenue de Villiers 75017 Paris

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