Posted 9 years ago
Tlynnie1942
(144 items)
I was given this painting by my friend, who passed away in 2013 of Cancer. He was friends with actor Tony Curtis, who often gifted Jimmy with art, paintings, and objets d'art, so I can be safe in saying that this painting was one of those gifts. I have a drawing that Mr. Curtis made for Jimmy that he personalized at the top. I also have an original stage photograph of Tony from the movie "Some Like it Hot". He is dressed up as his character, so funny. Anyhow, back to this painting :)
I want to thank kyratango for helping me go in the right direction to find the artist who painted this work. I now know that this was painted by a French woman, named Madeline "Mady" de la Giraudière. After years of looking and becoming frustrated that I might never know who did this pensive, caged, talented work....I find her too late. At the age of 95 years, this artist passed from this Earth on February 24, 2018, while living at a commune city called Lavelanet in France.
I do wish I had been able to talk to her, to find out when she painted this work and what it meant to her. I know from the signature, just "Mady" in the bottom right-hand corner, that it was early in her artistic career because once she was known in the art world, she signed her work either "Giraudiere" or "De La Giraudeire". Knowing her story now, starting as a young 19-year-old woman and unable to follow her dream of attending a fine art school because of her father, I think maybe this work could have been about her...caught in a cage that she desperately wanted to break free from. Around 1955, she meets Anatole Jakovsky, "The Pope of the Naive", an artist who guides her to fill her lack of artistic training and requires a lot of work from her in the hope of being able to organize an exhibition in Paris. I think that this painting was done before or just after she met Jakovsky.
She painted a hundred paintings in 3 years, of which forty were selected by Anatole Jakovsky, who organized his first exhibition at the gallery Henri Benezit in Paris. This exhibition was a real event for her because it was only the second time that an exhibition had been dedicated to a single Naive painter, Mady de la Giraudière.
She went on to paint and draw; she was also an illustrator. The past picture I have up shows one of her Objets d'Art, which has the same face and style as the girl in this painting. I found it on her website, which is still up to this day: MadydelaGiraudière.com. In her later years, she opened her home to the public so they could come and see her paintings and lithographs. And I believe last year, there was an exhibition in the Town Hall of Lavelanet of never-before-seen works. There were 2700 people who came to the event, a great success for Mady :) And this year, the Mayor of the city has decided that her paintings and lithographs will be exhibited every two years at the Town Hall. She was a very nice lady who often said that life is for living to the fullest!
I am happy to finally name this painting by the artist. But it is tinged with a bit of regret at missing by so few days the opportunity to maybe correspond with her.
Mystery solved :)
Lovely painting Tlynnie, could just be the title 'lady"
Newfld, it could be just that for the signature. That maybe it is a "G" and "lady", meaning "Gilded Lady"?
I read Mady, but could find nothing about artist...
Lovely!
Found a french artist, Mady de la Giraudière, you may Email her on the contact part of the site to know if it is her work:
http://www.madydelagiraudiere.com/
https://www.auction.fr/_fr/lot/tableau-hssoie-jeune-fille-a-la-guirlande-de-fleurs-signe-mady-36x28cm-cadre-de-7698926
Thank you kyratango! I have emailed with pics to the site, but I see many similarities in the work. I went to her work page and scrolled down to her "Les Objets" and the last one at the end of the first row has the same face. Same eyes, nose, mouth and the toning in the hair. Not to mention the bright, sparkling Gold color used and I see it in much of her work too. I think we may have a winner....
Yay! Keep us update when you have an answer :-D
Well, folks it is official. This was painted by Madeline "Mady" de la Giraudière. Unfortunately I was unable to actually talk to her, as she passed away on February 24, 2018 at the age of 95. I know this is a very early work of hers from the 1950's. Her genre of painting is called, "Naive Painting". After reading her story, I think that this painting may have been about the artist herself, prevented from being able to do what she dreamed by her father. To go to art school. But she was able to do her art her own way without the "learning". Without caring if everything is "within the lines".
Thanks, kyratango for pointing me in the right direction! I had all but given up after YEARS of trying to find out who did this work. Your help is VERY appreciated :)
The ballroom was filled with fashion's throng,
It shone with a thousand lights,
And there was a woman who passed along,
The fairest of all the sights,
A girl to her lover then softly sighed,
There's riches at her command;
But she married for wealth, not for love, he cried,
Though she lives in a mansion grand.
CHORUS
She's only a bird in a gilded cage,
A beautiful sight to see,
You may think she's happy and free from care,
She's not, though she seems to be,
'Tis sad when you think of her wasted life,
For youth cannot mate with age,
And her beauty was sold,
For an old man's gold,
She's a bird in a gilded cage.
I stood in a churchyard just at eve',
When sunset adorned the west,
And looked at the people who'd come to grieve,
For loved ones now laid at rest,
A tall marble monument marked the grave,
Of one who'd been fashion's queen,
And I thought she is happier here at rest,
Than to have people say when seen,
CHORUS
What a beautiful thing to have.
Gillian, I have thought that from the moment I laid eyes on this painting. A woman in a gilded cage. Having everything material she could want but terribly unhappy. Mady knew what she wanted to do with her life, but was prevented by her father. I am glad she did not allow him to stop her dreams.