Elles : les élèves de Jean-Jacques Henner

Exhibition at the Musée Jean-Jacques Henner, Paris, 28 November 2024 - 28 April 2025

Until 1897 in France, women were not admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts, mainly because of the nudity of the male models. As a result, they could not benefit from official art education. However, private workshops, which were springing up in large numbers during this period, gave them access to artistic training.

150 years ago, in 1874, Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905) was asked by his colleague and friend Carolus-Duran to run a studio for women. At the same time, after the studio closed around 1889, he welcomed some of his pupils into his personal studio on Place Pigalle. He was one of the most famous artists of his time to teach women.

This exhibition catalogue pays tribute to Henner's students, including Louise Abbéma, Madeleine Smith, Marie Petiet, foreigners Ottilie W. Roederstein, Juana Romani and Dorothy Tennant. Some have had emblematic careers, but all are still too little known to the general public. Through previously unpublished articles, annotated notes on the works and a biographical dictionary, this first scientific work on the subject, the fruit of several years' research, invites us to (re)discover the artistic careers of nearly a hundred students.