Françoise Gilot

Françoise Gilot
Birth name	Marie Françoise Gilot
Born	26 November 1921(1921-11-26) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Nationality	French
Field	Painting
Training	Cambridge University, British Institute in Paris

Françoise Gilot (born November 26, 1921) is a French painter and bestselling author. She was born to her parents, Emile and Madeleine Renoult-Gilot. She is also known as the lover and artistic muse of Pablo Picasso from 1944 to 1953, and the mother of his children, Claude Picasso and Paloma Picasso. She later married the American vaccine pioneer, Jonas Salk. Gilot was more than just Picasso's lover, she was a mother, organizer, muse, conversation partner, hostess, artist, and an art critic . In 1973 Gilot was appointed as the Art Director of the scholarly journal "Virgina Woolf Quarterly." In 1976 she was made a member of the board of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California. She held summer courses there and took on organizational responsibilities until 1983. Throughout the 80s and 90s she designed costumes, stage sets, and masks for productions at the Guggenheim in New York . She was awarded a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, in 1990.

Early life

Gilot was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Her father was a businessman and agronomist, and her mother was a watercolor artist. Her father was a strict man. Gilot began writing with her left hand as a young child, but at the ate of four her father forced her to write with her right hand. From this treatment, Gilot became ambidextrous. She had decided at the age of five to become a painter. The following year her mother tutored her in art, beginning with watercolors and India Ink. Gilot was then taught by her mother's art teacher, Mlle. Meuge, for six years. .She studied English literature at Cambridge University and the British Institute in Paris (now University of London Institute in Paris). While training to be a lawyer, Gilot was known to skip morning law classes to pursue her true passion: art. She graduated from the Sorbonne with a B.A. in Philosophy in 1938 and from Cambridge University with a degree in English in 1939. Gilot had her first exhibition of paintings in Paris in 1943.

School

While Gilot's father had hoped she would go to school to become a scientist or lawyer, she was frequenting museums in Europe to understand and gain an appreciation for the masters. When Gilot was seventeen she attended Sorbonne and the British Institute in Paris. She received her English Literature degree from Cambridge University. During 1939 Gilot's father still wanted her to complete a degree in international law, and out of fear that Paris will be bombed during the war, Gilot was sent to Rennes, France to begin law school. At the age of 19 she abandoned her studies in law to devote her life to art. She was mentored by the artist Endre Rozsda .

Picasso

At 21, Gilot met Pablo Picasso, then 61. Picasso first saw Gilot in a restaurant in the spring of 1943 . His mistress, Dora Maar, was devastated to learn that Picasso was replacing her with the much younger artist. After Picasso's and Gilot's meeting she moved in with him in 1946 and they spent almost ten years together. Those years revolved around art, but it is believed by art historians that Gilot's relationship with Picasso is what ruined her artistic career. Picasso and Gilot never married, but they did have two children together. Their son, Claude, was born in 1947 and their daughter, Paloma, was born in 1949. . Eleven years after their separation, Gilot wrote Life with Picasso, a book that sold over one million copies in dozens of languages, despite an unsuccessful legal challenge from Picasso attempting to stop its publication.

Gilot's Work

Although Picasso had influenced Francoise Gilot's work as a cubist painter, she developed her own style. She avoided the sharp edges and angular forms that Picasso used. Instead, she used organic figures. During the war, Gilot's father attempted to save the most valuable household belongings by moving them, but the truck was bombed by the Germans, including Gilot's drawings and watercolors .

Later life

Gilot married the artist Luc Simon in 1955 . The couple divorced in 1962. They had a daughter, Aurelia.

In 1969, Gilot was introduced to Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine pioneer, at the home of mutual friends in La Jolla, California. Their shared appreciation of architecture led to a brief courtship and they were married in 1970 in Paris. They remained married until Salk's death in 1995. During her marriage, she continued painting in New York, La Jolla, and Paris.

Gilot lives in New York City and Paris, working on behalf of the Salk Institute in California, and continues to exhibit her work internationally.

Books

• Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, Life with Picasso, McGraw-Hill, 1964; Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1989, ISBN 9780385261869
• Françoise Gilot, Le regard et son Masque, Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1975, ISBN 9782702100929 – focuses on her development as an artist.
• Françoise Gilot, Interface: the painter and the mask, Press at California State University, Fresno, 1983
• Barbara Haskell, Francoise gilot: an artist's journey 1943-1987, California State Univ, 1987, ISBN 9780912201122; Little, Brown, 1989.
• Françoise Gilot, Matisse and Picasso: A Friendship in Art, Doubleday, 1990, ISBN 9780385260442; New York: Anchor Books, 1992, ISBN 9780385422413

Sources

• Françoise Gilot, Mel Yoakum, Françoise Gilot: monograph 1940-2000, Acatos, 2000, ISBN 9782940033362

External links

• Françoise Gilot Official site
• "An hour with French painter Francoise Gilot", Charlie Rose, February 13, 1998
• Françoise Gilot Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
• Francoise Gilot (1921 - )
• http://www.artnet.com/artists/fran%C3%A7oise-gilot/