EMILIE CHARMY

Frieze Masters London

11 – 15 October, 2023

This exhibition is an opportunity to rediscover a singular artist, one of the most original voices of modern art in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. She was celebrated by many writers and critics of the time. Her paintings were part of the major artistic movements of the period leading up to the First World War, although she did not belong to any particular movement, but the particularity and provocation of Emilie Charmy’s work lay in the fact that she seemed to escape the artistic expectations of the time. Critics were unanimous in finding virile qualities in her expressive, physical and rough style, but they were certainly also reacting to her treatment of subjects, particularly the nudes and self-portraits, some of which display complex sexuality.

Charmy’s success continued into the 1930s, until the Second World War wiped out most of her personal networks. She continued to develop her work, in solitude, notably with self-portraits that present a curious and fascinating fusion of introspection and masquerade