Charlotte Morel's Watercolor Collection
In the Spring of last year, we attended an atelier sale in Paris of a late painter named Victor Pierre Ménard (1857-1938).
Ménard was an impressionist painter from Brittany, and we were lucky enough to pick up some beautiful portraits and landscapes from his body of work. Folded into the paintings on canvas, was a mysterious portfolio of watercolors marked "Charlotte Morel."
Back in our studio, as I explored the portfolio of watercolors, I was blown away. Dozens of beautiful botanicals were revealed - some the size of a playing card, and others almost a meter long. The flowers were not only done finely, but with the charming marks of the artist's hand and thoughts. She often signed her name, dated the paintings (mostly the 1890's) and sometimes wrote notes in the margins including measurements of the flowers - likely because they were painted to life size.
We have released a few collections from the portfolio in the past, and with the help of a few art historians we can count among our online community, put together more of Charlotte Morel's story.
We could find almost nothing of the artist online, but did find an academic article that placed a C.Morel as one of the first women to be accepted into the prestigious Beaux-Arts in 1920, about 30 years after these paintings.
It has been one of our goals to spread awareness about this female artist, who was overlooked as many women artists were, and in this case over-shadowed by her husband. We had the benefit, in having both collections, of having a portrait we believe is of Charlotte painted by her husband.
On Sunday, May 22 we will release our next collection of Charlotte Morel watercolors at 11am PST. We hope you will enjoy these watercolor florals, with a few other styles mixed in, from this exceptional female artist.
Feel free to email me with any questions: bonjour@frenchartshop.com