If you haven’t yet visited the Chateau and Atelier of Rosa Bonheur you have another reason to go this summer.
ANNA KLUMPKE IN THE GARDEN JUNE 1ST TO SEPTEMBER 18TH EXHIBITION
Anna Klumpke (1856-1942) was an American portrait and genre painter born in San Francisco, California, United States. She and her family lived in Germany, Switzerland and France during her formative years. In childhood Anna had once owned a Rosa Bonheur doll. Her family was well-educated and accomplished. Read about two of her sisters who were pioneers in math and science here. https://fusac.fr/women-scientists-international-women-and-girls-in-science-day/. A thrid sister was a pianist and Anna studied art at the Académie Julian in Paris. She spent many an hour copying paintings in the Musée du Luxembourg, including Rosa Bonheur’s Ploughing in the Nivernais. She presented her first work at the Paris Salon in 1884 and exhibited regularly in following years. While still at the Academy, and she won the grand prize for outstanding student of the year. After completing her studies, she returned to the United States for a few years and teaching a painting portraits in Boston. She is perhaps best known for her portraits of famous women including Elizabeth Cady Stanton. In 1889, she was back in Paris.
Auteur inconnu, Anna Klumpke in her Paris studio, c. 1880. Photography By-Thomery, Château de Rosa Bonheur © Photographic Archive Château de Rosa Bonheur
In 1895, the Anna met her idol Rosa Bonheur, thanks to a horse (The short story is that an American gentleman had sent Rosa Bonheur a mustang as a gift, having heard nothing in return he decided to visit her at home and hired multilingual Anna as a translator). At the time Bonheur was 73 and Klumpke 39. Klumpke was intent on painting Bonheur’s portrait.
By August 11, 1898, the two women were living together in Bonheur’s Chateau de By and had signed a contract. Bonheur created a new art studio for Klumpke and in exchange Klumpke would paint three portraits of Bonheur and write her biography/memoires. Their relationship endured until Bonheur’s death in May 1899 upon which Anna inherited Rosa’s estate and chateau.
Klumpke published in French in 1908 Rosa Bonheur, Sa Vie Son Oeuvre (Her Life, Her Work). This biography was based on her own diary of her discussions with Bonheur as well as Bonheur’s letters, sketches and other writings. In the book Klumpke told the story of Bonheur’s life and related how she had met Bonheur, how their relationship developed, and how she had become the artist’s official portraitist and companion.
Painting by Anna Klumpke Spring sowing flowers on the path of our life, 1925. Oil on canvas By-Thomery, Château de Rosa Bonheur © Photographic Archive Château de Rosa Bonheur
Anna Klumpke was always subject to the title of « companion of Rosa Bonheur »: when we speak of Anna, we speak first and foremost of Rosa. Klumpke does not exist without Bonheur. Tens of thousands of works and studies, worldwide renown, hundreds of articles about her, works exhibited in artists’ salons all over the world, the Légion d’Honneur: all this was not enough for Anna Klumpke to become a Being in her own right, a great painter of the 19th and 20th centuries. Immersed in Miss Klumpke’s archives, we discover a fascinating artist of monstrous courage. Klumpke deserves an exhibition of her own. Probably the 1st exhibition since the artist’s death, we want to do things on a grand scale. Keeping a certain mystery for a future retrospective on Anna Klumpke, we want to show works from our collections as well as from other museums. To do this, we’re restoring them to their original spaces. Scattered around the park of the château from which Anna Klumpke drew her inspiration, the works are shown from a distance, in the hollows of the trees. Prior to the retrospective, we are exhibiting fragments of the work of a great woman. « Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time » is our motto for this exhibition, as it was for the Klumpke family, tender admirers of the American poet Henry Longfellow. — Zélie BRAULT, Exhibition curator
ANNA KLUMPKE IN THE GARDEN until SEPTEMBER 18TH From Wednesday to Sunday 10.30 AM to 6 PM Visit Information an reservation at www.chateaurosabonheur.fr
Château de Rosa Bonheur 12 rue Rosa Bonheur 77810 – THOMERY-BY
