Marie-Thérèse Auffray

Marie-Thérèse Auffray (11 October 1912 – 27 September 1990) was a French painter and fighter in the French Resistance during World War II. She began her career in the 14th arrondissement of Paris and was known for her expressionist works. She remained independent of the art market, whose mercantile codes she always rejected.

Marie-Thérèse Auffray
Born(1912-10-11)11 October 1912
Saint-Quay-Portrieux, France
Died27 September 1990(1990-09-27) (aged 77)
Echauffour, France
Resting placeEchauffour
NationalityFrench
Known forPainting and heroine of the French Resistance during World War II
MovementExpressionism
Spouse(s)Noëlle Guillou

Biography

The Parisian years

Attached to her native Brittany, Auffray nevertheless left Saint-Quay-Portrieux at a young age, setting off for Paris in 1920, upon the death of her father. Very gifted at the arts, she quickly joined the world of artists that settled in Paris during the Années folles and attended the workshops at 11 rue d'Alésia, in the 14th arrondissement; there, she met the young Bernard Buffet, to whom she later taught painting.[1]

Auffray was noted for her talent as a poster artist and illustrator, but also for her paintings (still lifes and portraits). In 1932, she joined the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, moving into her own workshop at rue Gazan in 1940, continuing to frequent the galleries in the nearby rue d'Alésia. Her Parisian life was mainly spent in the Parc Montsouris district, which has always welcomed artists and their workshops.[2]

Commitment to the Resistance

From the start of World War II, she joined the French Resistance, moving to Echauffour where she joined forces with another young resistant, Noëlle Guillou, her partner in life. As major figures of the Echauffour Resistance, they supplied Parisian resistance fighters with local produce from Normandy and are illustrated in heroic actions. Marie-Thérèse Auffray also saved Allied paratroopers, including the American aviator Arnold Pederson, for which U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower paid tribute to her.[3][4]

Post-war

In 1945, Auffray exhibited at the Galerie Drouant-David and the Galerie Lucy Krohg, in Paris. In 1947, she and Noëlle Guillou opened Le Bateau Ivre ("The Drunken Boat"), an atypical inn, book-shop and discotheque in Normandy. The name of this place is a pun, relationed to the bar she made herself in form of boat, remembering her origins from Brittany, and the famous poem "Le Bateau ivre" by French poet Arthur Rimbaud.[5]

Despite her heroic commitment to the Resistance in Échauffour and her participation in the community life of this village, certain people didn't accept her homosexuality. "Le Bateau Ivre", founded with Noëlle Guillou, a well-known place in the city, was vandalized in 1968, affecting her emotionally for the rest of her life.[6]

Auffray shared her life between Echauffour and Paris, where she retained her workshop in the 14th arrondissement and as "Painter of the Social Comedy", she continued to paint all her life, socialising with Georges Brassens, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, being much appreciated as a woman of conviction and values.[7]

Her works were dispersed after her death, but, since the 2000s, there has been renewed interest from the public in her work, with several retrospectives recently devoted to Auffray: in 2017 (in Paris, Orangerie du Sénat), and in 2018 (in Saint-Quay-Portrieux and Alençon).[8][9]

Exhibitions and retrospectives
  • 1945: Galerie Drouart-David (Paris), "The Great Contemporary Painters at the Service of Prisoners".
  • 1945: Lucy Krogh Gallery (Paris), Monographic exhibition (34 paintings)
  • 1950s and 60s: Salon d'Automne,[10] Salon des Indépendants, Salon des Tuileries, Salon des Champs-Elysées, Salon of Women Painters.
  • 1962: Galerie du Colisée (Paris), Auffray retrospective (80 works)
  • 2017: Orangery of the Senate (France), Retrospective .[11]
  • 2018: Saint-Quay-Portrieux Congress Center, Marie-Thérèse Auffray, painter and resistant 1912–1990 .[12]
  • 2018: Retrospective at the Hôtel du Département de l'Orne in Alençon.[13]

Public tributes
  • Marie-Thérèse Auffray Park, a public garden in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, in the district where the artist had her studio and gallery. This new park was inaugurated in 2019, with several other places named after LGBT artists from all over the world.[14]

References
  1. https://www.tendanceouest.com/actualite-262727-alencon-auffray-peintre-et-resistante-de-l-orne-exposee-a-alencon.html
  2. https://www.parisapied.net/F%20Montsouris.htm
  3. Échauffour. Le GI croquÊ en 1944 a enfin reçu son portrait - Alençon.maville.com
  4. Arnold O Pederson | American Air Museum in Britain
  5. https://www.api-site.paris.fr/mairies/public/assets/2019%2F4%2F2019%20DEVE%2064%20Expos%C3%A9%20des%20motifs.pdf.pdf
  6. http://weekend61.fr/tag/marie-therese-auufray/
  7. https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/normandie/orne/locb-exposition-marie-therese-auffray-alencon-1449035.html
  8. L’oeuvre de Marie-Thérèse Auffray – Marie-Thérèse AUFFRAY
  9. Beaux-Arts de Rennes : la célébration de l'art féminin avec l'exposition “Les Créatrices” - France 3 Bretagne
  10. Search Results for marie therese auffray - oi
  11. https://mariejobon.net/2017/08/exposition-marie-therese-auffray-1912-1990-orangerie-du-senat-24-aout-4-septembre-2017/
  12. https://www.ouest-france.fr/culture/saint-quay-portrieux-la-peintre-marie-therese-auffray-sort-de-l-oubli-6040229
  13. https://www.ouest-france.fr/normandie/orne/marie-therese-auffray-artiste-et-resistante-5559921
  14. Archives des Marie-Thérèse Auffray - Association STOP HOMOPHOBIE | Information - Prévention - Aide aux victimes
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